Leaping In
by Kadi219
Summary: [Raydor/Flynn] - Sometimes moving forward requires small steps, and sometimes you just need to take a giant leap. An exploration of all the relationships that make our lives complete, whether they be romantic or familial.
1. Chapter 1

**Leaping In**

 **by Kadi**

 **Rated T**

 **Disclaimer:** This is not my sandbox, this is just my favorite place to play. I promise to put all of the toys back when I'm done.

 **A/N:** I just cannot help myself... since the first time I paired them together I ship this couple so hard... and no, I don't just mean Shandy. The idea of them together is just so adorable, at least to my mind... and besides, doesn't Buzz deserve a partner?

I started this before our darling couple revealed to Taylor the status of their relationship. That makes this chapter a little bit out of date. With the season ongoing I'm sure that most of this will be A/U by the time I finish writing it. I hope that you enjoy it anyway!

As always special thanks to the most awesome beta **deenikn8** and additional thanks to my best pals **Rocking Robin B** , **alyc98** , and the best twin ever **kate04us**! Additionally I'm adding a thank you to **Sixty Five Roses** \- since she and I share a love of the Buzz/Emily pairing!

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

Russell Taylor saw a lot of paperwork during the course of his day. There were even days when he could close his eyes and still he could see white pages with perfectly aligned black text. He could recite the forms that he signed daily, and without giving the recitation much thought. He had even come to know, at a glance, the handwriting of his department heads.

For example, without having to read it, he could recognize that the slanting, dramatic scrawl that would undoubtedly give him a headache belonged to Deputy Chief Monroe, who was in charge of traffic. If the letters were looping and cheerful, the writing belonged to Commander McGinnis, proving that the handwriting did not always match the personality. If he was presented with neat and bold print, precise and to the point, that was his guy Fritz. He liked reading those missives best; he never had to guess at what the words were. It was completely unlike the scrawling chicken scratch that he could barely decipher that came to him from Major Crimes.

Taylor groaned every time that he had to sit down and read something written by Raydor. She did it on purpose. He knew the woman to have a neat, slanting script, but if it was headed to him, the words were barely legible. He made fun of the preciseness with which she had written a simple note just one time, about ten years before, and now everything meant for his attention looked as if it had been quickly jotted down by a third-grader just learning cursive. He knew better than to comment on it again; Taylor felt like he had learned his lesson. Don't screw with Raydor, even if you're joking. The first few times he had to deal with that messy scrawl, she had simply smirked. Now he just took it like a man and if it was truly illegible, he got his assistant Ida to help him out. Ida was an expert in almost indecipherable writing. She said it was because he wrote like a serial killer. Taylor didn't think that was exactly true, or polite, but Ida was another one of those people he didn't mess with.

He learned a long time ago to keep the difficult, but valuable, women in his life happy. The trick was just not necessarily letting them _know_ that he was keeping them happy. His wife taught him that lesson. He practiced it daily, whether he was at work or at home. There were just some moments when it couldn't come in to play. Such as when Raydor had come by his office a few weeks before, reports in hand. Ida sent her back, but he had been on a call with the Chief of Police and the Mayor's office. He had waved for her to leave the paperwork on his desk and go on about her day. She had arched a brow and smirked at him, something that should have given him a sense of deep foreboding, but instead, he was just pleased to see that the reports she was leaving on his desk had been typed and not hand-written.

It wasn't until later, well after his call and another meeting that he was able to turn his attention to the reports. The first of them were pretty standard, weekly budget and expense forms. Another was the overtime request for her division. He scowled at that one. He couldn't argue with the results that Major Crimes got, but Raydor was getting bad about turning in the overtime _after_ the fact, rather than allowing him to decide if they could have it _before_ it was worked. He made a mental note to comment on that again, not that it would do him any good. She was going to do what she wanted anyway, but at least he could claim that he tried. All of his thoughts and intentions went out of his mind, however, when he saw the last form that she left on his desk.

Official Notification of Departmental Fraternization.

He stared at it for several long moments. At first he thought that it was a joke, or that it had gotten mixed in with her reports by mistake. Someone else must have surely left that on his desk. It could not belong to Raydor.

Then Taylor actually read it. Twice. He knew now why she had smirked at him in the way that she had.

The form was filled in, completed, as it should be. Every _I_ was dotted and every _T_ was crossed. There were no gaps; there were no points for misinterpretation. There were also two very distinct signatures in place on the form. For about half a second Taylor hoped that she was turning it in for Sykes, but then he remembered that the department already had one of those on file for Amy. She was involved with Chuck Cooper. That just proved to remind him how often he saw these particular forms.

Relationships were not forbidden, just so long as they were reported to the appropriate parties.

That was exactly what Raydor had done. She was reporting her involvement with another department employee to her immediate supervisor. Not just any employee, oh no, he couldn't get that lucky. In hindsight, Taylor figured he should have seen this coming. He wasn't blind, and despite what some might think, he was _not_ an idiot either. He had been witness to the looks, the smiles, and even the flirting.

Now it was official. Raydor and Flynn were dating. At least, they were dating on paper. They were dating for a whole year before that, but Taylor just let it go. So they went out to dinner? What was the big deal? It wasn't like they were going to be acting physically inappropriate in the office. They were the last two people that he expected to find making out in a break room. At their ages, he wondered what, exactly, had changed that she was turning that form in _now_.

Taylor decided that it probably had a lot to do with timing. There had been the divorce, and then Rusty's adoption. He thought this form probably would have crossed his desk a lot sooner if it hadn't been for the Stroh situation. Whatever it was, Taylor never actually cared what was going on with those two behind the scenes. They were what, sixty? Well, he knew Flynn was probably up there in age, or just about at the very least. Raydor was closer to his own age, and if he was honest, probably a year younger. They had both come up through the academy within a year of each other.

The only problem with it was that now he couldn't needle her about it. She left the form, and now it was official. He couldn't exactly call her in to his office to poke at her, and he wasn't going to step into her lair to do it either. It was a missed opportunity. Dammit. She won this round. She knew it too. Taylor resolved to work harder at winning the next one. She didn't let him have many, but by god the next one would be his.

Russell talked the situation over with his wife on their way to dinner that night. After she finished laughing at him, she told him to be patient. He would get his opportunity for payback. _Maybe_. Of course, then he remembered that Cassandra and Sharon had once been thick as thieves, back when Ricky Raydor had played little league with their eldest son Christopher. Naturally Cassie would be on Sharon's side. It was why he was glad that the boys had grown up, moved on, and didn't hang out together anymore. Those two women always ganged up on him when they were together.

So bide his time he had. Taylor was sure that the opportunity to get even with Raydor would present itself at some point. He would just wait and exploit it when it happened. In the meantime, there was work to be done. The murders never stopped. Neither did the overtime, although he _did_ remind her that their budget was very tight. Of course, she just smiled and told him that they would try to remain mindful of that. Like hell they would. Damn that woman. She did give him a headache sometimes.

Raydor was the last thing on his mind on that particular Saturday evening, however. He had promised his wife a night out away from their teenage son and his friends. Michael had been a surprise. The age difference between him and his older brother and sister was considerable enough to have made it almost feel like they were starting over when he came along. Christopher had ten years on his brother, and Serena was only thirteen months younger than him. It had definitely been interesting, having one child still in elementary school while the other two were off to college. At a time when they should have been very much done with PTA, ball games, and carpool, it was still going strong.

It made the moments when they could get away together all the more important, and enjoyable. So when his Cassie asked for a night out, he gave her a night out. He took her to a trendy jazz club downtown. She had wanted to go for a while now, and he had been putting it off. When he saw how she had dressed for the evening, Russell kicked himself for waiting. His Cassie was still a beautiful woman, even if they were both now on the back slide of middle age. She had worn the green dress he liked, and although the credit card bill would make him wince, he noticed that the shoes were new and that she had gotten her hair done. She beamed at him for noticing, so he would swallow back the complaints later when the bill came in.

He focused on having a good time. That wasn't a difficult thing to do. They danced and they laughed, and as they left the club, his wife snuggled in to his side. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and jiggled his keys in his other hand while they strode to their car. The parking lot behind the club was dark, lit by only a few security lamps. As they moved through the rows of cars, he spied a couple leaning against a dark sedan. He shook his head and huffed a sigh. He was looking forward to getting his hands on his wife, but there was a time and a place for that. A darkened parking lot was not it. A man should treat a woman better than that, he thought, particularly if he cared about her, or what other people thought of her.

Taylor turned his gaze away, but not without noticing that the woman had her hand fisted in his hair. Her head was thrown back; dark hair cascaded around her shoulders while the man's head was turned in to her neck. Her back was arched, and as they passed, they noticed the man's hand sliding beneath the hem of her short, black dress. Taylor snorted in derision. His wife chuckled. Maybe he was getting old and set in his ways, but he saw enough of the crap that went on in this city. He didn't need to be witness to couples making out in public when they could be making out in private.

"Hey buddy," He called, despite his wife nudging him with her elbow. "Maybe you should save some of that for when you take her home."

"Russell!" His wife shook her head at him, but her eyes were sparkling. "Let them be."

The man's head popped up and turned toward them. Eyes widened. "Chief!"

Taylor felt his jaw drop open. He stopped walking and stared. He felt his wife stumble into him and he shook his head. "For crying..." He heaved a sigh. "Buzz!" Now he didn't feel at all bad for interrupting the couple's _fun_. He would have expected better out of that particular individual. Taylor shook his finger at the younger man. "Go home," He admonished. His gaze flickered over to the young woman who was poking her head out from around the cameraman's shoulder. "Take your girlfriend and-" He trailed off when her face moved out of the shadow of Buzz's form. He blinked a few times. Then he felt his brows draw into a scowl. "Does your mother know you're in town?"

Emily Raydor smoothed her dress down and stepped out from around her date. "Not yet." She looked duly chastised for her behavior, and the fact that she managed to sneak home without informing her mother of that fact. "I was going to call her in the morning," she said, and that was true enough. She _was_ going to tell her mother that she was home at some point during the next day. She just wasn't necessarily there to see her mother. "It's a surprise," Emily added, and hoped that her mother wouldn't hear about it before she had a chance to call her.

"Oh, I think she'll be surprised all right." Taylor frowned at the pair of them. He waved a hand at them. "Does she know about _this_?" Somehow he didn't think so, considering the fact that _he_ had not heard about it. There wasn't a lot that went on in the Department that he didn't eventually find out about. He wasn't the resident gossip king for nothing! When Buzz looked away and shifted uncomfortably Taylor sighed again. "That's what I thought. You," he pointed at the young man, "take her home, and you call your mother," he instructed Emily, "and the both of you had better come clean before Monday morning. Or _I_ will."

"Now Russell," his wife laid a hand on his arm. She gave him an indulgent smile. "Leave them alone. They're young. Let them have their fun." Cassandra shook her head, and then offered a brighter smile at Emily. She hadn't seen the girl in more than five years. Not since the boys stopped playing baseball together. "It was good to see you, Emily. Mister Watson. Have a good evening," she turned and gave her husband a pointed look. She nudged him in the direction of their car.

He grumbled, but let his wife push him along. "You heard me," he called back to them, determined to have the last word. It wasn't necessarily that he thought it was any of his business, but if it were _his_ daughter, he would want to know what she was up to. He would also want to know if one of his employees was putting his hands all over her. He imagined that little Emily's mother would want to know that too. He would give them the rest of the weekend to tell her, and then he'd have a chat with Sharon himself. Someone had to do it. Heaven only knew the girl's father wouldn't bother.

He took care of his own. He would worry about getting even with the Captain another time.

They watched the couple disappear around the side of an SUV. Silence stretched between them, only broken by the sound of car doors being closed. Emily turned and pressed her face into his shoulder. Her hand gripped his upper arm while her shoulders shook with laughter. "Your face!"

"Oh my god." He groaned as he covered it with his hand. His head bowed and his shoulders slumped. "I do not believe this." Sneaking around had never been his idea. He knew that they would be caught, but Emily had not wanted her mother to know about them yet. He wanted them to come clean from the beginning, so that there wouldn't be any need for subterfuge or worry. Emily had put forth a reasonable and logical explanation that changed his mind. At least, at the time it _seemed_ reasonable. Now he was questioning whether or not he just let her maneuver him into the worst possible set of circumstances that their relationship could have been conducted in.

It was all something of an accident, really. It began the previous Christmas. While he was walking around wearing his very green face, and trying to forget that he was going to have to sport it for another few days, Rusty insisted on drawing attention to it during the impromptu Christmas party.

" _Buzz, what happened to your face?" The teenager was looking at him, wide-eyed and just a little bit worried._

 _He sighed heavily and suppressed the urge to stomp his foot in frustration. "Lieutenant Provenza," he grumbled, and decided that should be explanation enough._

 _Rusty's brows shot into his hairline. He looked across the break-room, where the Lieutenant was talking to his friend Patrice and Lieutenant Tao. "I don't understand," Rusty began. "What did he do to you?"_

" _He ignored me." Buzz waved him off. "It was nothing, Rusty. Don't worry about it. It's going to fade in a couple of days."_

" _A couple of days?" Rusty shook his head. "Oh man." He offered a sympathetic smile. "I'm really sorry. I guess that's really going to make Christmas dinner with your parents interesting."_

 _Buzz thought about the jokes that his sister would make and rolled his eyes. "You have no idea," he said dryly._

" _Rusty." His sister had appeared beside him then. "Ricky and I were thinking about giving Mom her gift now," while she spoke, her gaze shifted to look at the man her brother was speaking to. Her eyes widened and before she could stop it, she snorted a giggle. Emily slapped a hand over her mouth. "I'm so sorry. What, um…" She wriggled her fingers at his mostly green face. "Did you know that you have something green…"_

 _Buzz sighed. He rolled his eyes heavenward while his shoulders slumped. "Yes. I am aware. Thank you." He might have been blushing, but it was hard to tell beneath the dye stains._

 _Rusty laughed. "He was injured in the line of duty. It was a drive-by coloring. They're very dangerous this time of year."_

 _Emily pressed her fingers to her lips again, but she couldn't stifle the giggle. Her hazel eyes sparkled at him. "Rusty, be nice," she admonished._

" _What?" He looked at her. "This is nice! Besides, it's just Buzz." He grinned. "Don't worry, he said it would wear off in a couple of days. Did you and Ricky need me for something?"_

" _What?" She was still staring at the green-faced man. Emily blinked and looked at her new brother. "Oh. Right." She shook her head. "We were thinking about giving mom our gift now, this way Ricky and I can do the Christmas thing with our father in the morning," she almost rolled her eyes as she said it, "while mom sleeps in. After all this murder, Santa stuff," she said, waving her hands in the air in front of her, "I think she probably needs the rest. We can do our family Christmas with her tomorrow, at dinner, and not feel like we have to rush out to see dad."_

 _It would also limit the amount of time that they had to spend with him, Rusty realized. He nodded at her. "I'm okay with that," he told her. He was really surprised that they were even including him in the decision. "Actually, I think she will enjoy it a lot more."_

"Great." Emily gestured behind her. "So, let's go do that then." She started to back away, but her gaze found Buzz again. She smiled, and the barely contained laughter was lighting up her eyes once more. "Baking soda and dishwashing soap."

 _He frowned at her. "What?" Buzz tilted his head, confused. "I don't understand."_

 _Emily gestured toward his face. "Baking soda and dishwashing soap. Make a paste; use some cotton balls or an old toothbrush. It will probably come off."_

" _Really?" His brows lifted in surprise. "Doctor Morales said it would have to wear off," he told them._

" _I don't think Doctor Morales has ever dyed his hair before," Emily said. "Just trust me. Try it." As she turned, she shot a smirk back at him. "The worst that can happen is that your mother has a Grinch in her Christmas pictures."_

" _Oh god." Buzz sighed. "Hey Rusty, beware of sisters, they're evil," he called after them._

 _He tried her suggestion that night. It had taken a couple of applications, and while it didn't remove the green dye completely, it did fade considerably. Buzz sent a text to Rusty asking him to thank Emily for the idea. It had almost worked. His face wouldn't stand out quite so much in the family pictures that his mother would be taking the next day._

 _To Buzz's surprise, the following morning, an hour before he was to leave to meet his family for the holiday, his doorbell rang. He was surprised to find Rusty there, along with_ both _of the teenager's siblings._

" _Christmas with their dad was a bust," Rusty explained, but left it at that. "We're hanging out so Sharon doesn't find out."_

" _Don't ask." Ricky found a chair and dropped into it with a sigh. He didn't want his mother to know that his father had been completely trashed by the time that they had gotten there. Instead, he picked up Emily, who insisted on bringing her bags with her, and they had gone back to the Condo. Their mother was still asleep, and they didn't want to spoil the festive mood that they knew she would be in. Rusty still thought that they should tell her everything, so they convinced him to come out with them. Anything to get him away from their mom before the news could be shared._

 _It was Emily that suggested they go and see his friend. She wanted to see the results of her suggestion; she stood in front of him, and despite the way that he fidgeted under her scrutiny she studied his face closely. The green had faded. It didn't stand out quite so starkly against his skin. "Almost. But not good enough for family pictures."_

" _I don't know what else I can do." Buzz shrugged at her. "I used your disgusting paste twice. Anymore and I'm going to start to smell like a janitor's closet."_

 _Emily laughed at him. She held up the makeup bag that she brought in. "Well, maybe we can avoid that. Come with me." She took his hand and drew him into his kitchen. It was a small space. His apartment wasn't that big. Somehow, it was still nicer than her father's place. Emily placed the cosmetics bag on the counter and drew him toward the sink. The baking soda was still sitting on the countertop beside it. "Stand still," she instructed him._

" _Wow." Buzz sighed as she backed him into the corner of the cabinets. "Who knew bossy was genetic," the sarcasm filled his tone, and he let it._

" _So is my sense of occasion," she snarked back at him. "I'm just trying to save your poor mother the hours she will have to spend photo-shopping the family pictures." Actually she was doing it because Rusty was all worried about him, and she wanted to do something nice for her new brother. Perhaps to make up for the fact that she knew that he was right, but she and Ricky were stubbornly trying to protect their mother anyway. "Now hold still," she ordered._

 _Buzz rolled his eyes at her, but he stood perfectly still while she mixed up another bowl of the strong smelling cleaning paste. She scrubbed at his skin with it in a way that made him scowl at her, but she just smiled serenely. When she began to hum a Christmas tune, he just folded his arms across his chest and tried not to laugh. The sense of occasion was definitely genetic, he decided._

 _Afterward, with his skin looking only a pale shade of sickly green rather than Grinch-stealing-green, Emily sat him down at his dining room table. Her brothers looked on, and had a great deal of fun at his expense, when she began using concealer and foundation to hide what remained of it. Buzz wound up looking a lot more like himself, although he was still going to have to explain to his family_ why _he was wearing makeup to Christmas dinner. It was a lot better than showing up green-faced._

Emily was still in town for the rest of the week. He took her to dinner two nights later to thank her, and by that time he hadn't even needed makeup to look normal. It wasn't a date, but they had a very good time that evening. It wasn't even a secret. Rusty had teased him about it, but Buzz hadn't cared. He was only being nice, thanking her in a way that was appropriate.

What Rusty was not aware of was that they two of them continued talking afterward. Emily's new contract with the Ballet Company had given her more flexible hours. She was able to visit her mother more often. The next time that she was in town, they went on their first date.

They were both aware that long distance relationships were difficult, but theirs was casual and flirty. They had a lot of the same interests, and they were able to talk and laugh, and banter, about a great many subjects. Emily's schedule in New York had always been incredibly busy anyway; she was never much for the dating scene. She was too focused on her career. The guys that she had dated were not willing to understand that they would not be her focus. Those relationships always ended in the same way. So it was a bit of a relief to be able to date someone who understood that her time was not just limited, but that they would only see each other sparingly; someone who was as equally focused on his own career.

When they were apart, they could text or email. There were skype chats or evening phone calls. When they were together, they were better able to focus their attention on each other. Emily had started making a point of flying home at least once a month, now that she could. It allowed her to see her mother more, and to get to know this new brother of hers, but it also gave her the opportunity to keep a long distance relationship alive. She was not the only one travelling for the sake of their relationship, although it was harder for Buzz to get away, especially now that he was in Reserve Officer training. They both did their best, though, and that was all that they could ask.

Buzz never set out to have a secret relationship with his boss's daughter, but every time he mentioned bringing it out into the open, Emily disagreed with him. It was never the right time, she told him. Her mother was so worried about everything that was happening with Rusty, she had not wanted to add to that. Not that she thought that her mother would have an issue with them, but it could wait. It could be theirs for a little while longer, and when the timing was better, she would tell her mother about them.

"You're going to have to tell her now," Buzz said. He looked down at the laughing woman beside him. "There is no way you're getting out of it this time."

Emily lifted her head. She shook her hair back and hummed thoughtfully. "Well, I probably could, but I was going to tell her anyway." She flashed a smug smile at him. "Don't look so worried! Everything will be fine. My mother adores you." She slipped her arms around his waist and leaned into his side. "We are perfectly competent and consenting adults. Besides, the most important thing for you to remember is that _I_ adore you." She tugged her bottom lip between her teeth. Her eyes sparkled while her hand slipped slowly down his front.

He groaned. He captured her wrist and turned her toward the car. "I'm taking you home before you get us arrested."

Emily laughed as he guided her into the car. She waited for him to join her on the driver's side. "I worry about you. You're always so concerned about doing everything right. Life doesn't have to be perfect, you know. It's okay for it to get a little messy."

"I know that." He arched a brow at her. "But why get arrested for indecent exposure when I can spend the whole night having a good time?"

Her lips pursed. "Good point." She sat back in her seat with a smile. "Why aren't you driving yet?"

Buzz laughed as he turned the car on and put it in gear. "You are trouble," he decided, and not for the first time. She only laughed at him, but the car was barely down the block and headed toward his apartment before she was leaning over the center console and kissing his neck. He really didn't mind her brand of trouble.

 **-TBC-**


	2. Chapter 2

**Leaping In**

 **by Kadi**

 **Rated T**

 **Disclaimer:** This is not my sandbox, this is just my favorite place to play. I promise to put all of the toys back when I'm done.

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

"I still think that we should have called ahead first." Buzz said. He adjusted his grip on the box of pastries that they had brought, and cast a sideways look at his girlfriend who was carrying the drink tray laden with coffees. They had gotten up at a fairly decent hour that morning, despite the late night they enjoyed. After jogging through the park near his apartment, and then enjoying a rather leisurely hour in the shower, Emily had decided that they should go and let her mother know that she was in town… among other things. Buzz had not argued that fact, and it was his idea to stop for breakfast, but he also thought that showing up unannounced might be a bad idea.

"Again with the worrying." Emily rolled her eyes at him. "Buzz, it's fine. I promise." She adjusted the strap of her purse and moved the drink tray to her other hand. "Do you call your mother before swinging by to see her?" When he only offered her a sheepish smile and a shrug, she groaned. "Oh my god, I would find the only decent guy left in the world." Emily shook her head at him. "Well, _my_ mother doesn't expect that from us. She'll just be happy that I'm here."

"In my defense," he pointed out, "you don't live here. Of course she's going to be overjoyed to see you. It isn't as if you can just swing by anytime that you would like. Naturally, since I only live a few miles away from my mother, that is exactly what I do. It's only polite," he added with a smile.

"I will allow you to have this one," she decided. "But we are not going to discuss how my life would change if I lived closer; especially not within possible hearing range of my mother. Once she gets started…" Emily just shook her head. "Trust me, not a good idea."

"I do trust you." He stopped outside his Captain's door and smiled fondly at her daughter. "But one of these days you're going to have to accept the fact that I might know your mother almost as well as you do. I see her everyday."

"At work," She said with a grin. "You see her at work. You don't know my mother. You know your captain." Emily flashed a bright grin. "There's a big difference, Francis."

His eyes narrowed. "I'm sure that there is, Emily-Ann."

Her nose wrinkled at him but she let it go. She reached into her purse for the key and slipped it into the lock. Emily looked up when a hand covered hers. "What?"

"Don't you think that we should knock?" Buzz shook his head at her. "We can't just walk in to your mother's apartment."

"Please tell me that you're kidding?" Emily gave him a bland look. "If you tell me that you knock every time you go home to see your parents, I swear—"

"No," he said carefully, "of course not. But I don't show up unannounced either, and especially not when I have a guest. Emily…"

"Okay, this worrying thing, it's getting old," she warned him. She turned the key and smiled when the deadbolt clicked open. "Ricky and I both have keys for a reason, honey. This is _home_." That wasn't entirely true, home was actually the house that she had grown up in, but the principle remained for the condo that her mother moved into after she and Ricky had moved away. "It's okay." She leaned up and kissed him.

Emily knew that he was uncomfortable and with more than just their showing up at her mother's place without calling first. It was the entire situation that they found themselves in that was unsettling. She was trying to be patient and understanding, but it was beginning to grate on her nerves. She smiled as she passed the drink tray to him and pushed the door open.

They moved quietly into the apartment and were immediately surrounded by the aroma of breakfast being cooked. Emily's eyes lit up. She tossed a wide smile at Buzz. She had already identified the scent of cinnamon and vanilla that was hanging in the air. "Waffles." Emily dropped her purse onto a chair and strode toward the kitchen. "Mom! Surpri—Oh my god!"

There were some moments that the human brain simply could not comprehend. Walking into her mother's kitchen and finding her, not at the stove as she expected, but instead seated on the counter beside it while a man tried very hard to divest her of the shirt that she was wearing was one of those such moments. In all fairness to him, the shirt was obviously his, and Emily could say with absolute certainty that she was doing the same thing not too long ago, but she didn't have to _see_ it. She closed her eyes tightly and waited for the images to fade, because honestly she did not need the sight of her mother, with her legs wrapped around said gentleman, burned into her mind's eye forever.

Buzz's lips pursed. His brows rose. He tilted his head as Emily's face turned bright red and she turned away from whatever was in the kitchen. Her hands were now covering her face. "That is exactly why we should have called ahead first," he drawled.

The commotion drew Rusty out of his room. He came down the hall and peeked out before venturing nearer. He didn't normally leave his room until he was sure that Flynn, or both of them, was gone for the day. He found a way of co-existing in this situation and stuck to it. He spied Buzz first and walked over with a puzzled frown. "What's going on?"

Buzz glanced at him and then nodded his head toward where Emily was giving a full body shudder. "Your sister just found out that the dating situation finally resolved itself," he said.

"Oh." Rusty noticed her now. He didn't remember Sharon or Emily mentioning a visit, but then he and Sharon were giving each other a lot of space lately. She wasn't the only one with a new social life. He cast a look at Buzz and arched his brow. "Okay. Why are _you_ here?" He asked. That wasn't exactly something that was a usual occurrence.

He looked at Emily again, and then Buzz shrugged. He offered Rusty a small smirk. "That dating situation finally resolved itself."

Rusty stared at him. Then he snorted. "Knew it." He nodded at the drink tray. "Is that coffee?"

"Help yourself," Buzz lifted it toward him. He took one for himself while he was at it. After Rusty had one, he laid it on the end table beside the sofa.

"Cool." The two men turned toward the kitchen. Rusty sipped his coffee. "Even I don't come home anymore without calling first," he said. "I'm young and impressionable, you know."

"I had heard that," Buzz replied. When Emily dropped her hands and glowered darkly at both of them, he just grinned at her. He held up the pastry box. "Sweetie, maybe you should sit down and have a Danish. You're looking a little flushed."

She pointed a finger at the pair of them. "This is not funny. I will deal with _both_ of you later."

"Okay, I am not entirely sure what is going on here, but enough." Sharon stepped out of the kitchen and took a moment gauge the situation before shaking her head and looking at her daughter. It wasn't as if she wasn't completely clothed, although wearing Andy's shirt over a pair of yoga pants wasn't exactly conducive for entertaining guests. She glanced at him as he joined her. His t-shirt and pajama pants weren't much better. It was still early for a Sunday morning, and neither had been in much of a rush to get dressed. She decided to push all of it aside, however, and affixed a bright smile on her face. "Emily, what are you doing here?"

She was still too shocked to do much more than stand there as her mother hugged her. Emily's arms came up automatically to return the embrace. "I wanted to surprise you."

"I would say that you succeeded." Sharon leaned back, but without letting go of her completely. "Do not get me wrong, I am overjoyed to see you, but Emily, I didn't know that you were coming! I thought I wasn't going to see you again until Thanksgiving?"

"That wasn't entirely true." Emily glanced at the man behind her mother before letting her attention be focused entirely on her. "It was part of the surprise. I am going to be home for the holidays," she added, "but right now, I'm going to be spending a lot more time around here."

"I don't understand?" Sharon shook her head at her daughter. Movement in the living room drew her attention. She glanced over again, and then frowned. She straightened and pushed a lock of hair behind her ear. "Rusty, why is Buzz here? Did I forget that the two of you had plans today?" It was her way of asking if he just hadn't told her, since he wasn't sharing a lot of what was going on in his life lately.

"Nope." Rusty rocked back on his heels. He grinned widely. "He's not with me." He looked at the man beside him and nudged his shoulder. "Go ahead, Buzz. Tell her why you're here."

"He's with me," Emily announced. It wasn't exactly how she planned to tell her, but she wasn't expecting them to have this much of an audience for that conversation either. "I wouldn't swing by his place unannounced during the next eight weeks, that I'll be here, in LA, dancing, for the company…" She shrugged at her mother and smiled weakly. "Surprise."

Sharon blinked at her. She looked from her daughter to Buzz, who suddenly found his shoes to be the most interesting thing in the room, and back again. She opened her mouth to comment but took a step back instead. Finally she shook her head. "I think there's going to be a conversation, but before that happens, I am going to get dressed." She waved a hand at the room, "no one move."

Buzz only looked up once while they moved across the room. He wished that he hadn't. He found the Lieutenant glaring at him. He heaved a sigh and looked heavenward. Somehow he had known that this situation would end up being _his_ fault. "Rusty, you might want to leave," he warned.

"Are you kidding me?" The teenager sat down. "This is the best thing that has happened around here in a while. No way am I missing it. Besides, I have to be able to tell Ricky everything." He smirked at his sister.

"Why didn't you warn me about this?" Emily marched over and took one of the coffees out of the tray they brought. She grabbed a throw pillow and smacked her brother with it. "I had no idea that they were actually sleeping together," she hissed.

Rusty shuddered. "Are you kidding me? I don't want to know about it either, much less talk about it. Oh no, every sibling for themself when mom is getting laid."

"Rusty!" Buzz scowled at him. "Don't talk about it like that. It isn't very nice."

"No kidding," he replied. "Someone is going to break a hip!"

Buzz rolled his eyes at him. "Rusty," he tried patience, but just shook his head. "They are not that old," he said. "Try to be understanding. How would you feel if your relationship was being belittled? By someone you care about," he added, before Rusty could point out that his relationship wasn't as widely accepted as it should be.

"He's right." Emily shrugged. "I don't want to think about it either, but as long as she's happy, that's all that should matter, Rusty."

"Of course." He rolled his eyes at them. "I know _that_." Rusty sighed. "I just don't want to know the details of how she's _getting_ happy." When they both groaned, he nodded. "See, my point exactly. That is why we don't talk about it. We have a pretty good schedule that works for us. I stay out of Sharon's dating life, and she is staying out of mine."

Emily thought about it for a moment. Then she looked at Buzz. "I wonder if we can get her to stay out of our dating life?"

"I really cannot wait to see this," Rusty chortled.

Down the hall Sharon was quickly getting dressed while Andy did the same. She shrugged into a blouse before wriggling into a pair of jeans. "Tell me that you did _not_ know about that," she said carefully.

He stopped buttoning the shirt she had just been wearing and stared at her. "Are you kidding me right now?" Andy flung his arm in the direction of the living room. "Of course I didn't know about _that_!" He scowled at her and went back to buttoning his shirt, his movements now hurried and just a little frustrated. "If I had known that Buzz was dating I would have mentioned it, and I sure as hell would've told you if I knew it was Emily." He shot a pointed look at her. "Not that he would have told _me_ of all people."

Sharon huffed a sigh at him and sat down to run a brush through her hair. "I don't understand. Didn't he just tell all of you that he was single a few weeks ago?

"Exactly." Andy jerked his pants on and rolled his eyes at her. "Why else do you think I didn't know he was dating?" He walked around the room and picked up the rest of the clothes that they managed to scatter the night before while looking for his socks. "Where the hell are my shoes?"

"Other side of the bed." Sharon moved to her dresser and leaned over it. She swept her fingers beneath her eyes to remove any lingering make-up smudges. She shook her head. So much for their lazy morning; she had planned to have a leisurely breakfast with him before kicking him out so that she could go to Mass and then spend the rest of the day trying to convince Rusty that he should bring his new _friend_ around for dinner one night.

"Found one of them." He had to actually look _under_ the bed to find the other one. "How the hell do you always manage that?" Andy dug the shoe out and sat on the edge of the bed while he put his socks on.

"Just talented I suppose." She met his gaze in the reflection of the mirror and smirked at him. "I don't recall you complaining."

"Not complaining now," he rumbled teasingly. "Just asking a simple question."

She laughed at him. "Somehow, I don't believe you." She walked slowly toward him. Sharon waited until he had pushed his feet into his shoes before she leaned into him. Her arms moved around his shoulders. A pout turned her lips down. "Why did it have to be Buzz? I like Buzz."

"I think that's the point." His arms looped lazily around her hips. "She likes him too." When she grunted at him, he grinned. "I'm serious. Think about all the things that you like about him, and then imagine what you would do if you were twenty years younger."

Her nose wrinkled. His suggestion had the opposite effect for her. "He's too nice. The nice ones do nothing for me."

Andy's brows rose. "You sayin' I'm not nice?" His hands moved to her hips and he tugged her closer.

"Oh, you're nice." Her lips curved into a slow smile. "You're also stubborn, sarcastic, surly…" Sharon laughed when he flipped her down onto the bed and covered her. "Did I mention hot-tempered and naughty?"

"No, I think you left those out." He leaned down and caught her bottom lip, only to tease it. "I'd like to revisit surly. We should explore that one a little bit. It's not something I'm feeling a lot of at the moment."

"No?" Her back arched when his hands moved beneath her top. She moaned, just a bit plaintively, and reached for his hands. "We don't have time for this." Sharon sighed. "We have to go and deal with my daughter and her…" Sharon made a face before adding, "boyfriend."

Andy laughed. "Oh no, sweetheart. Not _we_. You." He rolled off of her and sat up. He pushed himself up off the bed and held out a hand for you. "This one is all yours. That's your daughter out there, not mine."

She scowled at him. "Yet, somehow, every time _your_ daughter comes to _me_ for advice, I am more than happy to help." Sharon batted his hand away as she stood up. "Gee, _honey_ , thanks a lot."

"Now who is the surly one?" Andy rolled his eyes at her. "There's a really huge difference here. Nicole knows you. I've only met Emily once. I doubt she'd really appreciate me getting involved in this situation, especially since she only just found out that we've gotten serious." He shook his head at her. "Look, obviously I'm going to stick around. I'll be happy to be the moral support, but there's not a lot else that I can do in this situation, your daughter and Buzz works for you, not me. You want me to take him out and give him the talk? I can do that, but I don't really think I've got the right."

"No." She sighed. He would have to use logic on her. She moved closer to him again and wound her arms around his waist. "That is something else that I get to do on my own." It wasn't his fault that she had been both mother _and_ father to her children over the years. She laid her forehead against his chest and just enjoyed being held when his arms closed around her. "It just had to be the one I liked," she muttered again.

Andy shook his head at her again and was glad that she couldn't see him. "You still like him," he said. "Buzz is one of the good ones. He'll treat her right."

"Now he chooses to be rational," Sharon mumbled. She tipped her head back and smiled at him. "Where's that rational guy the rest of the time?"

There was a teasing glint in her eyes. Andy leaned down and kissed her quickly. "It's a balance thing. We can't both be irrational at the same time. The world will stop; Provenza's head will explode. You know, bad stuff."

"Ah." She continued to smile up at him. "I see. Very valid points, both of them." Sharon drew a breath and let it out slowly. "Okay, let's do this before they come looking for us."

"Never happen." He grinned crookedly. "Rusty doesn't want to know and Emily won't risk seeing more than she already did. We're pretty safe."

"Oh good." She smirked at him. "Then why did we bother getting dressed?"

Andy laid his hands on her shoulders. He pushed her away from him and turned her. "Let's go. You're not getting out of this." He walked her to the door. "Just focus on the fact that she's actually here."

"Yes." Sharon nodded. "That's good. I can do that." Her lips pursed. "While also ignoring the vacation days that I approved for Buzz on Monday and Tuesday." Barring anything that they could not handle without him, he had more than earned the time off. She hadn't questioned it. Now Sharon understood why he smiled a little nervously when she handed back his form and told him to have a good time. She stopped walking at the door and sighed. She turned her head and cast a pout at the man behind her. "I don't like being upset with Buzz," she said quietly. "He's been very good to us." There were times when he was a better brother to Rusty than Ricky was, although that was a matter of proximity, as the boys did just fine when they were together. He had been very good to her son, going above and beyond and forming a relationship that was still very close. She relied on him, maybe a little too much sometimes, but he was there for Rusty when she couldn't be or when Rusty didn't want her to be.

"So don't be upset." Andy kissed the side of her head. "I'm sure that it's all going to work out just fine." He prodded her toward the door again, but she managed to dig her heels in. Andy fought the urge to smirk. She called _him_ stubborn?

Sharon turned toward him a bit. "Promise?" It was the uncertainty that bothered her. She could handle it in her own life, but when it surrounded her children, that unsettled her.

"No." He shrugged. "I can't offer any promises at all. We don't know what's going to happen. I'll be here, though, and we'll figure it out."

"Hm." She hummed while a smile curved her lips. Sharon gripped his chin and leaned up to kiss him. "You always say the right thing," she whispered. Her lips brushed his again, just once more, and she let it linger before turning back to the door. She squared her shoulders before pulling it open and plastered a smile on her face as she moved down the hall.

Upon realizing that there was actually breakfast, Rusty had moved into the kitchen while waiting for Sharon and Flynn to return. He inspected the offerings. She made waffles, which spoke of a particularly good mood, although he didn't want to think about how his mother had come by that mood. There were also eggs and a small plate of bacon. He grinned widely. That would primarily be for him. The vegetarian didn't eat bacon and Sharon didn't eat much for breakfast anyway. Rusty decided that he was perfectly okay with taking advantage of her good mood.

While his sister and her _friend_ were busy planning their explanation, Rusty set the table. He moved the food over and pulled out juice and glasses. He even retrieved the pastry box and put the selection of gooey Danishes and cinnamon rolls out with the rest of the meal.

Rusty looked over as Sharon returned. She spared hardly a glance for the couple that was seated on the sofa and instead strolled toward the kitchen. Her gaze swept over the table and she moved into the kitchen to see what remained. "Thank you Rusty, you didn't have to do that."

"It's not a problem." He was hungry, but he really hadn't wanted to be any more a part of the back and forth that was going on in the living room than he needed to be. There was a point where it stopped being amusing and they were getting close to that.

Sharon pulled the full coffee carafe away from the maker and held it for a moment. Her head tilted while she studied her son. She could hear Andy in the other room, talking to Emily. He was making bland conversation, asking about her flight, and the weather back in New York. A small smile tugged at her lips, but it was Rusty that held her attention. Sharon pointed a finger in the direction of the living room. "Did you know?" she asked, voice barely above a whisper.

"Are you kidding?" Rusty shook his head at her. He stepped further into the kitchen so that he couldn't be seen from the sofa. "How did you _not_ know?" He grinned at her. When her eyes just widened, Rusty sighed. "Okay, to be fair, I only had an idea about it because I knew they were friends." She only seemed to be more confused about that. Rusty sighed. "Last Christmas. She helped him out with the whole green-face thing. They kept talking after that," he whispered, "I guess on one of those trips home, they started doing more than that. I swear, Sharon, all Emily told me about it was that they're friends. Just friends, but where have I heard _that_ before, hm?"

Sharon's mouth opened. She immediately closed it and pointed a finger at him. She tapped it against his shoulder as she walked past him. "That's not funny," she said. "Not at all. They are two very different situations."

"Yeah." Rusty turned where he stood. He continued to grin at her. "Of course they are." He walked out to stand near the table and leaned against the back of one of the chairs. "I'm just starting to think that this family has a very weird definition of the word friend, that's all."

She rolled her eyes toward him in a bland look. "Ha! Such a comedian, but I am not amused." Sharon pointed at the chair that he was leaning against. "Sit."

Rusty was determined to have the last word. He pulled the chair out and lowered himself into it with a grin. "The truth isn't always easy," he said seriously, but his eyes were sparkling.

Her eyes narrowed. "We'll talk later," she promised. He was being awfully cheeky this morning. She decided she would let it go.

"Looking forward to it." Rusty smiled widely and held his hands up. He was only an innocent observer in this and she knew it. When she rolled her eyes at him again he had to laugh.

Sharon turned her attention to those gathered in the living room. They looked pensive. Good. She smiled. "I think we can continue our earlier conversation over breakfast," she announced. "Why don't the two of you join us?" She locked eyes with her daughter. Sharon's brows arched while she waited. "Emily?"

She drew a calming breath and stood. "Sure. That sounds great." Emily cast a sideways look at her boyfriend and jerked her head toward the table.

The temptation to roll his eyes at her was a strong one, but Buzz managed to refrain. He wanted to have this conversation months ago, but he thought that reminding her of that fact, again, might not win him any favors. He held his tongue as he joined her and laid his hand against her lower back as they walked around to take a seat at the table. Buzz held Emily's chair for her, and as he took the one beside her, he noticed the Lieutenant doing the same for the Captain. He glanced across the table and shared a look with Rusty. The pair of them rolled their eyes. The hand that lingered on her shoulder before the Lieutenant sat down beside her was not at all subtle. He figured at this point, subtle was right out the window.

Silence settled over the table, broken only by the sound of spoons clanking against bowls and plates while they were all served. Rusty snickered quietly. "This isn't awkward at all."

Andy chuckled quietly. When Sharon glared at him, he shrugged. "Kid has a point." She was seated adjacent to him at the head of the table. He had Rusty beside him with Emily on the other side of the table, beside her mother. "Not saying it isn't going to make it less awkward."

"I guess it won't." Sharon wrapped her hands around her coffee cup and held it in front of her. Her head tilted while she studied her daughter. Finally she shook her head and smiled. "You said that you were going to be in LA for a while, dancing. Would you like to explain?"

Emily nibbled on a piece of bacon. She wasn't hungry, but it had given her something to do during the odd silence. She sat a bit straighter in her chair and offered her mother a small smile. "The company has been exploring the possibility of branching out nationally for the last couple of years. We will still be based primarily in New York, but the directors want to give the appearance of truly being The American Ballet, and not just the New York ballet, as we're sometimes called." She reached for her coffee and took a sip. "To do that, they've decided that there should be more touring of our more popular productions, but this year they've added something new; local productions in a couple of major cities, to run during the beginning of the season."

Sharon hummed thoughtfully. "That is an interesting thought. Didn't they try that a few years ago?"

"Not on this scale." Emily shrugged. "Most of the touring they did was abroad, in England and France. We did do a production of Romeo and Juliet in DC about three years ago, but it was a limited showing." She waved a hand through the air. "It only ran for a week, and it was part of the festivities for some visiting dignitaries. This year we are running shows in Los Angeles and Chicago." Emily shrugged. "I am going to be dancing _Coppélia_ here. We are going to rehearse and produce, and then the show will run for a month. I'll be here for the next eight and a half weeks. The company is running _Beauty and the Beast_ in Chicago. We'll wrap both shows at the same time, and finish out the season in New York with this year's main production, _A Mid-Summer Night's Dream_."

"Eight weeks?" Sharon forgot that she was meant to be annoyed with her. She leaned forward in her seat and reached out to clasp Emily's hand. "You'll be in LA that entire time?" Her daughter had not been home for more than a week at a time since moving to the East Coast, and typically with long stretches of time between each visit. The past six months had been the exception, but the shorter trips home of just one weekend a month or every two months had seemed like more of a tease than a real visit. Sharon missed having her girl close by.

"Yes." Emily smiled brightly. "I mean, I'm going to be very busy with the show, but I'll be here." They could go shopping, or have dinner. It would be nothing at all for her to swing by and join her mother for lunch. It would be very much like it was before she had gone away to college, and before she moved to New York full time. "I can't tell you how excited I am to have all of this sunlight," she laughed. "I had to go and buy new shades yesterday, my East Coast gear wasn't getting it done, and this one just kept making fun of me." She reached over and nudged Buzz's shoulder. "He kept calling me Gizmo."

"Well you were whining about all the bright light," he replied with a grin. "You forgot what summer was like on the Golden coast. My only mistake was letting you drag me down to Rodeo instead of the mall." He nudged her back. "I should have known you weren't just going for the sunglasses."

"Of course not." She laughed. "I need a California wardrobe. I've been living in New York for the last several years. Our summers amount to about four days of eighty-degree temps in the middle of July," she teased. Even though it was already August, the summer was still going strong in California, and would until almost the holidays.

Sharon blinked. She sat back in her chair again and crossed her legs beneath the table. "So then, you've been in town since yesterday?" She voiced the question carefully. She wanted to sound curious, and yet there was still a warning note in it.

Emily's head jerked back around. She stared at her mother, looking a little wide-eyed. She smiled sweetly. "Well, yes. Actually, my flight got in late Friday night. I didn't want to wake you, so I thought that I would wait. Then we ended up doing so much running around yesterday," she said, waving a hand in Buzz's direction, "and we had plans for last night, and I didn't know what your plans were for the weekend, so we thought that we would just come by and see you today. I know that you always try to be home on Sundays. I thought that would definitely be our best bet, and I wanted to surprise you."

"Hm." She hummed. "Yes. Surprised." Sharon put her coffee cup down. She folded her hands together and tilted her head at her daughter. "I am certainly surprised." Her lips pursed. She looked between the two. "More than that, I think that I am a little disappointed. At what point in all the time that _either_ of you have known me, did you think that it was not okay to come to me about this?" She waved a hand at them, indicating the relationship that was so obviously _not_ new, if their interactions were anything to go by.

"Mom." Emily sighed. "That isn't what happened at all." She shook her hair back. "This was just something that happened," she said, and reached over without looking to lay her hand on Buzz's arm. "I wasn't trying to keep it from you intentionally, but I live in New York. He lives here. There was no way to even know that there was going to _be_ a relationship to tell you about. Honestly, for the longest time, we were just friends. After that changed, well, I just wanted to explore all the possibilities before sharing it with everyone else. That's all." She shrugged. "Does it make you feel any better to know that _he_ has been wanting to tell you since the start?"

He smiled sheepishly at the Captain. "I also agreed with Emily that we should wait and find out what we were going to be telling people, before we told them." His hand closed around hers. Buzz wasn't going to hang her out to dry, not to her mother, and not for his own sake. He had lobbied for an earlier disclosure, but in the end, he had also gone along with keeping the information to themselves. He was just as culpable in this as she was.

"I see." Sharon's gaze swept between the two of them. A small smile curved her lips. She leaned against the table and looked at Andy. "You'd have hung me out to dry, wouldn't you?"

"Definitely." He smirked at her. "At every opportunity and just as quickly as I could. It's every man for himself and the Darth can take care of herself." His dark eyes sparkled at her. It was a lie, and she knew it. He had taken a lot of heat for them from his partner at the start of this relationship, and even before. "But that's me. Buzz is still young. He's got time to learn."

"Mmhm." She shook her head and leaned back again. "Yes. He is at that, isn't he?" She folded her arms across her chest while she thought about it. "Okay." Sharon smiled. "It's none of my business. You are adults. Your relationships are your own. But…" She held up a finger before Emily could relax too much. "Next time that you are in town, tell me!"

"I will!" Emily laughed as she leaned across the table to hug her. "I'm sorry. I will get those priorities worked out."

"That might help." Rusty chimed in. "I mean, boyfriend, shopping, and then mom. You can see where that might sting a little bit." He smirked at his sister. He speared a piece of waffle and shoved it into his mouth. He chewed thoughtfully. After he swallowed he pointed his fork at her. "Just one question. Where are you staying while you're in LA? You never mentioned a hotel…"

Buzz groaned and looked heavenward. " _Rusty_." It had been a really long time since he wanted to throttle that boy. It was an option that he was currently rethinking.

Emily's eyes narrowed. Her brow arched. "Mom, it occurs to me… Rusty has never really had the full sibling experience." She glanced at her mother. "Ricky has never been the older sibling before. I don't think he fully understands how to demonstrate it yet."

Sharon glanced at Rusty, who was looking awfully pleased with himself. She had already come to the conclusion that Emily was probably staying with her boyfriend, since that was where she had gone first upon arriving. She reached for her coffee cup and lifted it again. "Emily, I believe that you may be correct. Your time with Rusty has been very limited."

"Yes." Her hazel eyes glittered with mischief. "I feel like I have been an awful sister." Her lips turned down into a small pout. She looked at Buzz beside her and sighed. "It's pathetic, really. I've hardly paid any attention to him at all. I should really correct that."

"You should." He agreed. The sister phenomenon was something that he was very familiar with. It was time for Rusty to experience it. That would be better than any lesson or lecture that he could provide later. Buzz grinned. "You'd be remiss if you kept going the way that you are."

"I think so too." Emily hummed. "Yes," she decided. "Rusty and I should definitely spend some time together while I am home. Just the two of us."

Sharon watched Rusty's smug smile fade into a look of wariness. She reached for her fork with a grin. "Have fun." She pointed the utensil at her daughter. "But be safe."

Rusty's eyes widened. It did not go unnoticed by him that she mentioned nothing at all about being kind. "Oh crap," he muttered.

"Oh don't worry, little brother." Emily smiled widely at him. "It won't hurt. _Much_."

 **-TBC-**


	3. Chapter 3

**Leaping In**

 **by Kadi**

 **Rated T**

 **Disclaimer:** This is not my sandbox, this is just my favorite place to play. I promise to put all of the toys back when I'm done.

 **A/N:** Okay so a couple of concerns were raised in one of the reviews from Chapter 1. I will address them here since the reviewer posted as a guest:

1) The age difference - The actor is in his late 40s, but the character has always been played as younger. Most characters are typically younger than the actors portraying them. For example, Graham is in his mid-20s but plays a teenager. Emily's age has been hinted at about 30, so what I see is a 10 year age gap.

2) The reviewer stated that Buzz is gay. This has never been identified in either series _The Closer_ or _Major Crimes_. The actor is gay, but the character's orientation has never been defined. In fact, there is at least one interview where the actor has said that the character _needs a girlfriend_. Let me be clear: I would be totally cool with Buzz being gay, I love that character  & orientation would never change that for me. Love is Love. For the purposes of this fic, I am going with the idea that he is straight, since that is my current impression based upon all available data.

Now! On to the story, and if you're still here... I hope you enjoy it. Much love!

* * *

 **Chapter 3**

"Well, that wasn't so bad." Buzz moved across his bedroom. He glanced into the open bathroom where Emily stood at the vanity. She had her hair pulled into a bun and a headband in place to keep her bangs or any loose wisps of hair from falling forward while she went through her nightly routine. When she only snorted at him in response, he grinned. "Come on, you didn't mind spending the day with your mother. She took you shopping."

"I can accept a bribe in exchange for telling her everything there is to know about us. That isn't the same thing as having fun." She stepped back from the mirror and looked at him. There was a smile playing at her lips, but she continued rubbing moisturizer into her face. "No, it wasn't that bad," she agreed. "I guess I didn't realize how much I missed that, just being able to make a day of it with just the two of us." Emily turned back to the mirror again with a shrug. "It was just like old times, right down to the maternal inquisition. She's getting better at it; I'm going to have to step up my game."

Buzz rolled his eyes at her. He picked up his book and got comfortable on the bed. After breakfast, the Captain had suggested a girls' day, since her schedule wasn't going to be open again until the end of the week. She invited Emily to go out with her, for shopping and then lunch. He had to hand it to her; he only thought that he knew how good she was at maneuvering people into doing what she wanted. When Emily looked like she was going to beg off on the activity, she pulled out the maternal guilt. She mentioned forgoing Mass until later in the evening so that the two of them would have more time together. How could Emily say no to that? Ultimately she couldn't.

The Captain said she didn't have any other plans for the day, and whether or not that was really true, Buzz didn't know. The lieutenant hadn't seemed to indicate that their day was being rearranged, and had instead stated that he had plans of his own for the day, errands that he had put off for far too long. Since he wasn't the most subtle person that Buzz knew, he had to believe that they really had not planned on spending the day together. Buzz left Emily with her mother after breakfast and managed to get out of the condo before he had to endure any attempts at questioning by Rusty or the Lieutenant.

Buzz didn't see Emily again until dinner. He met the two of them downtown at a popular restaurant, but there had been no attempts at any sort of inquisition at that point. Whatever the Captain wanted to know or say was obviously exchanged with her daughter, thus prompting his questions now. He waited for Emily to join him on the bed. He noted that she had taken her hair down and watched as she pulled her laptop onto the mattress in front of her.

He only pretended to pay attention to his book while studying her. "What did you tell her?" He asked finally, his curiosity getting the better of him.

She hummed. "Who? Mom?" Emily shrugged at him. "Just the truth." A smile played at her lips while she studied her schedule for the following week. She had a couple of days to get settled in and then she was going to be very busy. "I told her that headlining this show was my first and last big hurrah in the world of ballet, and that I would be staying in LA when it's over since you knocked me up and we're getting married." Emily rolled her eyes toward him in a bland look. "What do you think I told her? I said that I was excited to be home, and I like you a lot, and this was our chance to determine if this relationship is actually going anywhere or if we're both just in it for the wild monkey se—" She squealed loudly when he grabbed her around the waist and pulled her across the bed. He flipped her across the bed and pinned her there. Her elbow struck the edge of her computer but she was laughing too hard to care.

Buzz leaned over her. "Are you trying to get me shot?" He shook his head at her. "We won't have to worry about this relationship going anywhere, Emily-Ann, your mother will personally shoot me dead."

"Oh honey!" She wrapped her arms around his neck. "Mom would never kill you!" Emily's eyes danced with barely contained amusement. "She would just disable you. Forever. Then I would have to never speak to her again because I really like the wild monkey se—" This time he cut her off with a kiss. She wrapped her legs around his and stretched beneath him. The kiss lingered, but he nipped playfully at her lips. "I only told her that we were exploring our options," she said truthfully. "She wished us luck, and reminded me again that there is never a reason that I should feel like I need to keep something like this from her." Emily toyed with the hair at the base of his neck. "Honestly, we mostly talked about her relationship. Want the juicy details?" Her brows bobbed up and down.

He drew back from her and sat on his knees. On the one hand, he was really curious about it, but on the other, it didn't seem fair that he would be coming by that information in this way. He chewed on the inside of his lip while he thought about it. "Well," he hedged slowly. "I think that might depend on what she told you about her relationship with the Lieutenant. Is it going to make me want to share it with others?" That would be the deciding factor in whether or not he let her tell him.

Emily's lips pursed. She gave that some honest thought. "No," she said, "I don't think so." She shook her head at him. "It's really more personal than interesting. I probably shouldn't even tell you." She sat upright in front of him. "She probably would shoot you if she found out." Emily smiled at him. "No, really, I don't think the rest of your team would find it all that interesting. It's honestly a little bit sad."

"Sad?" His brows drew together. Buzz regarded her closely. "I thought they were getting along okay? The Captain and Lieutenant seem to be handling the situation well." He was loath to really delve too far into the Captain's personal life, but now he was concerned. "Rusty hasn't mentioned anything. Is it not going well?"

"Oh no, nothing like that." Emily shook her head. "They're great. Don't get me wrong; I think she's completely nuts about him. It's just sad when I think about how long she was alone. She hasn't dated in thirty years. She was married to my father all that time, and he's no great prize." Emily rolled her eyes at the mention of the man. "Not that I think she was _completely_ alone, if you know what I mean." She laughed when he shuddered. "I just think that it has been a really long time since she has been able to be apart of a relationship that wasn't about someone else's needs. Of course, she won't tell me that. She won't talk about it like that at all. I'm just guessing at a lot and reading between the lines. Mom won't admit that she was ever unhappy, but I know that my dad put her through it, and I don't know. I guess just to see her happy _now_ , I'm happy for her, but I don't want her to get hurt again either."

"We don't know what is going to happen." Buzz pulled her toward him again. He settled her across his lap and let his arms slide around her waist. "If it helps, I don't think you have to worry about it. I have known the Lieutenant for a really long time, and I have been watching them together for a couple of years now. I think that they'll be okay, and even if they are not," he said carefully, "I think that they could still be friends. They were doing pretty great at that too."

"It helps." She wrapped her arms around his neck. "It helps a lot, actually." She dropped a kiss onto his mouth. "Maybe we should talk about something else. Talking about my mother while we're in bed together is just a little bit creepy."

"It is a bit." His brows lifted. "What did you want to talk about?" Amusement sparkled in his blue eyes.

"Oh, I don't know…" She smirked at him. "Maybe the wild monkey sex that you don't want me talking to my mother about."

"You're a little bit obsessed with primates and their mating habits," Buzz decided. "You understand it's not normal, right?"

"Well, they are my favorite animal," she said. Emily kissed his chin, and then trailed a string of kisses along his jaw to his neck. "I begged my mother for a lemur, but she got me a brother instead. Two of them, as luck would have it." Emily lifted her head and pouted at him. "I was very sad."

"Were you?" He flipped her onto her back again and settled over her. "Maybe this will cheer you up?"

She hummed as he pushed her t-shirt up and began kissing his way across her stomach. "Oh, I think that might do the trick…"

 **MCMCMCMCMCMC**

He was in his garage when she arrived. Andy spent the day just as he planned, although his morning with Sharon was cut short by the arrival of her daughter. They didn't spend every minute together. They were both well beyond an age where they believed that having a relationship meant spending all of their waking hours in each other's presence. They both had hobbies and friends outside of each other; they had their kids and families, and as much as they enjoyed being together, it was good to be apart as well.

They typically spent their Sundays in the same manner. Despite whether or not they went out during the week, Saturday was usually put aside for each other. They would spend the afternoon and evening together, and then after breakfast on Sunday, he would go his own way. Sharon would go to Mass, and then spend the remainder of her day with Rusty or doing housework, or some combination of the two. They wouldn't see each other again until Monday morning, and then their week would start again.

It worked for them, although he was finding that he much preferred sleeping beside her, and did just that a few nights out of the week, whether he followed her home or she found her way into his bed, the result was the same. He slept better when she was with him.

Andy was a little surprised to see her when she walked into his garage. He supposed that he shouldn't be, given the events of the day. She was going to want to talk about it. He looked up at her with a smile that didn't show his surprise, but rather his delight at seeing her. He realized that she must have changed before spending her day with Emily. The jeans he so admired on her form had been replaced with a pale, lilac wrap dress. Somehow he didn't mind that at all. She was wearing a pair of strappy heels, taller than she would wear to work, and if he wasn't mistaken he last saw them on one of their dates. As always he marveled at how she managed to move so gracefully in those things, especially after a day spent shopping with her daughter.

He moved away from the old bookshelf that he was in the process of sanding and refinishing. Andy had been working on the thing for a few weeks now. He wasn't in any hurry to get it finished. He just liked working with his hands. When he was finished he knew that he would find another project, something else to putter with around the house.

His bungalow was only moderately sized. It was a three-bedroom, but the smallest of the lot was so tiny it could hardly be called a bedroom at all. The old place had been built in the thirties, but it was still in good shape. A mix of California wood and brick and located on a street with other such homes. He lived in an older neighborhood, just at the edge of Echo Park where it gave way into Silver Lake. He had a little corner lot, and the thing that he liked about it he most was that it was big enough that his detached, two-car garage was set back from the road and slightly behind the house. Not that he really used the garage for that. He had a small television out here and sometimes he listened to whatever ball game happened to be on, be it baseball or football while he tinkered. Right now it was a bookshelf, but when it was finished, he was thinking of taking the old porch swing down and refinishing it too.

At the moment what he was most interested in was that dress. His eyes moved from the capped sleeves to the v-neckline and the simple, silver clasp that held it together at her side. The skirt danced around her knees, shorter than what she wore on a typical day, but today had been for her and not for work. She could indulge if she wanted to, and she often did in a personal setting. He watched her lean against one of the workbenches beside him and grinned at the fact that she seemed unconcerned that she might get covered in sawdust.

"Hey." He drew back from the shelf and reached for an old towel to wipe his hands on. "I wasn't expecting to see you." Andy leaned over in the same moment and greeted her with a kiss.

"I know." She smiled against his mouth. She was sorry to have interrupted his work. She was enjoying watching him. It wasn't the first time that she had joined him in the garage while he worked. She liked being with him out here, and she had especially liked watching the play of the muscles in his arms and back while he moved. They might be getting old and some parts of their bodies might be much softer than they would like, but there was still quite a lot to be appreciated. She cupped his chin and kissed him a second time before letting her hands fall to be clasped in front of her. Her eyes followed him as he moved around the bench to close down his project for the night. "I was on my way home, but Rusty decided to go out." She hadn't really wanted to be alone yet, and Andy was not so far out of her way that she couldn't easily stop by, if only for a few minutes.

He glanced at her as he gathered his tools. He stood at another workbench and began to wipe them down before putting each one away in its usual spot. "How was your day? The shopping with Emily." He tossed a crooked grin at her. "You look good."

It earned him a very pleased smile and a low hum. Her head tilted while she thought about his question. They had enjoyed a leisurely afternoon of browsing. There were even a few purchases, one of which she was sure that he would appreciate. Sharon gave a delicate shrug in response. "It was good," she said simply. "I miss my girl. It was nice to be able to spend the afternoon with her and not have to think about how much we need to cram into a single day because she's getting on a plane the next morning."

Andy watched her look away. She was staring across the garage, looking at nothing really. She was lost in her thoughts for a moment. When a line drew her brows together he tilted his head at her. "What about the other thing?" He asked, and thought that might be what was bothering her the most. "Did she talk about the Buzz situation at all?"

Sharon hummed again. She met his gaze for a moment but then quickly averted hers. She looked at the sawdust covered, cement floor beneath them. Her hair fell forward to obscure her face while she studied it. Her eyes tracked the odd patterns that the dust had made as it settled on the floor. "We talked about that a little, yes." Sharon sighed quietly. She looked up at him through the layered locks of hair that were framing her face. "Am I so terrible?" She saw his surprise at her question and gestured helplessly with her hands. "Have I done something so horrible that none of my children think that they can come to me about these things? Emily has been flying home for months, not only to see her family, but also to have this relationship that seems to be getting fairly serious. Rusty doesn't want to bring this boy that he's seeing anywhere near me, and he shuts down when I try to talk to him about it. Ricky…" Sharon shook her head. She looked up at him when he moved in front of her. "He would rather talk about computer programs that I know nothing about. When he has had girlfriends he hasn't wanted to talk about them, and there was only one that he's ever brought home to meet me, and that was at _her_ insistence and not mine. So really, I must be terrible. That is the only conclusion that I can reasonably arrive at. I have three children and not a one of them wants to introduce me to anyone that they are involved with. It's no wonder that Rusty finds our relationship so odd, he probably feels incredibly sorry for you."

"Hey." Andy scowled as he took her hands. He tugged her forward, away from the bench, and let his arms circle her. "Don't do that. You know I've got a temper problem. I don't like it when people talk about my girl like that. It pisses me off." He tucked her against his chest, no longer caring that he was sweaty and dirty, covered in dust. His hands moved up and down her back. He felt her sigh and kissed the top of her head. She was not a woman prone to having moments of self-doubt, not that she would so easily wallow in. She made her decisions and she moved forward, but she was as vulnerable as the rest of them. Especially when it came to her children. They were her heart, and provided all of the cracks in her very strong armor. She was a strong person, she had to be, with the life that she had and the career that she had chosen.

She built herself up and held fast to her beliefs and principles, even when opinions of others were so vastly different. He had never met anyone fiercer in the professional arena. Even when their cases were at their darkest and most emotionally damaging, she pushed forward and was stronger for it, and so were the rest of them. Her weaknesses came in the form of her personal life. In the marriage that had left scars on her heart, and the children that she would do anything for. It was her children that had the power to hurt her most, and it seemed that they had. Not so long ago she would have tucked that pain away and coped in silence until she found a way to resolve the situation. This time she had stopped, and she was sharing it. Just as it could be the strongest and most dangerous side of her when pitted against, her maternal side was also the softest and most vulnerable part of her. There were not a lot of people that she would allow to see that. Every day she was offering him a little more of her heart, a little more of _her_. He accepted it, held onto it, even as he was holding her now.

He measured his words carefully. The problem, he knew, did not lie with Sharon, but rather with her kids. They were young. They didn't want to talk about their relationships with their mother. It was awkward. He tried to imagine talking to his mother, when she was still alive, about the girls that he was dating, or even about his failing marriage, and knew that it was not something that he would have done. He talked to pals about those things, or to his brother. Hell, he even talked to his sister about it before he would talk to his mother. Andy turned his face into her hair and let his lips brush her ear. "You're not terrible at all. It's the opposite. Mom isn't the one that you talk to when you're seeing someone. She's the one that makes you brownies when it's over." He thought he felt her smile against his neck and let his hand slide down her back again, the caress gentle. The material of her dress was soft; it made his palms and fingertips tingle after hours spent holding hard tools and rough sandpaper. "What have you told your mother about us?"

Sharon laughed quietly. She lifted her head to look up at him. "Not a lot, actually." She drew her bottom lip between her teeth. She could see his point, but her relationship with her mother was much different than the one she tried to create with her own children. "As far as my mother is concerned I am still married to Jack, and I am going to burn in ever lasting torment for even considering the word divorce. She promised that she would keep lighting candles for me, though, in hopes that her prayers will be heard and my soul will be spared." Sharon rolled her eyes at him. Her beliefs differed from those of her mother, but she had spoken to her priest at length about the divorce both before and after filing for it. It wasn't the first time that her religious beliefs had come in direct conflict with the constructs of her life and independence. "Father Daniel and I are sure that I am probably safe from burning," she said with a smile, "but a mother worries, you know."

"Uh huh." He gave her a bland look. Andy shook his head at her. "See, this is why I won't go to church with you. Too damned much hypocrisy everywhere." His arms were still wrapped loosely around her waist. Andy's bottom lip jutted out. "So then, your mother isn't going to like me. Good to know."

Sharon laughed again. She leaned up and kissed his pouting lip. "No, actually, I'm sure that she will love you. We don't talk about it. In her mind the vows I made to Jack before God supersede any of the dictates of my heart or my conscience, and she's struggling to weigh a lifetime's worth of religious teachings with the fact that she thinks that he is a scoundrel that I am well rid of. She could manage as long as we were just legally separated. It's the actual divorce that's thrown her. It just isn't done in my family." She shook her head. "My reasons for not discussing our relationship with my mother are vastly different than any that I can come up with for why my three seem to think that they should keep these things from me."

"Are they?" Andy shrugged as he turned them. He leaned back against the bench and drew her forward to stand between his legs. His hands locked together against the small of her back while he spoke. "We'll just take the boys out of it, because I'm telling you right now, there is no way that either of them is ever going to want to talk to you about their relationships. It's got nothing to do with you, sweetheart, and everything to do with the fact that they're guys. It's not what we do. Trust me on that. Not even Rusty, Sharon. I know that bothers you the most, but talking to his mom about who he's dating isn't going to happen. Especially when it's talking to his mom about being gay. He'll find someone; probably Buzz, and that will be his sounding board. He'll come to you for the hard stuff, because that's what Rusty does, but dating advice? No, that's never going to happen. Ricky is what, twenty-five?"

She was pouting at him. Sharon sighed. "Twenty-six," she said. "What does that have to do with it? I'm still his mother. It isn't as if he's going to talk to his father." Sharon's eyes closed. She groaned. "Dear god, please do not let him be talking to his father about this…"

Andy laughed. "Nope. Well, probably not; maybe if they were closer or Jack was someone that he could talk to. I'm with you on that, I hope that's not where he's going and I don't think it is. Ricky is too smart for that. Just trust me, at twenty-six, you don't _want_ to know what he's up to. There's a reason he's not telling you, and let's just keep it at that." He watched her roll her eyes at him and grinned. "I'm serious. If you think your mother is lighting candles for you, it's nothing compared to the fire you would start if you knew. Now, Emily…"

"Oh yes." Sharon arched a brow at him. Her eyes were sparkling, but her tone held a mild warning note. "I cannot wait to hear this. Tell me, Andrew Flynn, what pearls of wisdom do you have for why a girl would withhold her dating status from her mother, hm?" Her lips pursed and her head tilted, but her carefully patient stance could not belie her amusement at him. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and hummed quietly while she waited.

He made a face at her, rolled his eyes at the way she was laughing at him. He was glad to see her smiling again, however. So he didn't really care if it was at the expense of thinking that he was being ridiculous. He would take it. "Look at your history and tell me, what is Emily going to think? You married your college boyfriend and you were with him for thirty years. By the time that you were Emily's age, you already had two kids and a marriage that you were trying to hold on to, while still building a career that would help you take care of those kids. Emily has spent those years working on her career and dating when it suited her. Now she's at a point in her life when it's all about to take off. She is living the life that you raised her to have. She is enjoying the independence and the freedom that you taught her it was okay to enjoy. Your daughter is chasing the dreams that you gave up for her, and because she's practicing everything that _you_ taught her, she isn't going to come to you with all of the parts of it that aren't working, or aren't perfect. She's going to do what she watched you do. She's going to find a way to make it work and be stronger for it."

It was a little humbling, and more touching than she had words to express that he could see her in that light. She lowered her gaze to his chest where her hands had fallen to play with his t-shirt. She watched her fingers as she picked at the material and drew her bottom lip between her teeth. She tried to see it the way that he did and she supposed that there was a lot of truth in his words. She had married very young, and her children came early in that relationship, well before she had planned for them too. Most of the dreams that she had as a girl were cast aside, she found new ones to chase. She watched her children grow and she built a life for herself. She held on to a man that she hoped would one day remember that he loved her, only to finally let that dream go and live her life apart from him. She used her marriage as a shield instead, a safety net and a professional stepping-stone. When it was no longer useful to her, when it became a weight around her neck, she cast it away.

What she had not imagined or thought about all of those years was how her children would view it. Not until Rusty came into her life, asking the questions that her elder two would not, did she begin to see the mistakes that she made in holding onto a marriage that was more toxic than it was advantageous. She had thought about divorcing Jack several times over the years, but had never followed through with it. There was a part of her that had still hoped he would be the man that she thought she had married. She had hoped that they could grow old together, find in middle age what they had lost in their youth. That wasn't going to happen, and it was another dream that she let go of. Then quite by accident she found affection and companionship elsewhere. It was warm and light, and just a little bit frightening. Just when she thought herself well beyond having a partner in her life, her heart began to stir again. It came alive with passion and love and she found that it was not only her children and her career that could give her joy.

Sharon allowed her gaze to lift. Her eyes were bright with emotion, and they glistened with a sheen of moisture that she blinked away. Her throat ached when she spoke, and it pitched her voice low and thick, until it wavered just slightly. "I told myself when Emily was born that the relationship I had with my daughter would not mirror what I have with my mother. I want her to be able to come to me. I don't want her to feel like she has to hide because our beliefs are different. I want her to be happy. I don't want her to have to live any part of her life thinking that she has to make it work because I won't approve, or that I wouldn't help her find her way out of a difficult situation. I don't want her looking back when she's fifty and wondering what her life might have been like if she had done any of it differently." She wasn't prone to bouts of regret, but there were moments in her life that she questioned, and times that she wondered what her life would be like now if she had done things another way. On the whole, she was happy. She was good with where she was and what she had in her life. Most of it she wouldn't give back for anything, and that included Rusty and Andy. She was thankful that they were in her life, and so she couldn't regret it all, but she was also human. Her mind went to those places, although it had been quite some time since she lingered over those thoughts.

"She won't." He tipped her chin up when she looked down again. His hand cupped her face, and his thumb swept away the single tear that had pooled at the corner of her eye. "Or she might," he said quietly. "But it won't be through any fault of yours. You did the best you could for them. It isn't that Emily doesn't think you won't approve, it's that you taught her to be strong. She found a guy that she really likes, but he lives on the other side of the country and he works for her mother. She isn't going to whine to you about how unfair it is that she can't see him, or that his horrible boss monopolizes the time that he could spend flying to see her. Instead she juggled it all around and found a way to make it work for her." He lowered his head and brushed a soft kiss across her lips. "You're not terrible at all. You're pretty damned great, and the kids know it. It's why they work so hard to be the kind of people that you raised them to be."

She turned her face into his neck and let her arms slide around his middle again. She sighed quietly, the sound punctuated with a light hum of approval. This was exactly the reason that she had pulled her car off the highway and drove the few blocks out of her way. She had known that he would make her feel better. He couldn't chase away all of the doubts that she felt, but he could help fill her with the warmth that she needed to push them away on her own. She could have done it alone, but it would have taken longer, and she would not have felt nearly as wonderful as she did in that moment. There was one more lingering doubt, however, and he couldn't help her dispel it. He could only help her carry the weight of it. While she stood with his arms wrapped around her, and the scents of sweat, and man, and wood surrounding her, she closed her eyes and let herself lean in to him.

"This is not the life that I want for her," she said quietly. "If she decides that he is what she wants…" Sharon lifted her head again and looked into his eyes. "I like him, I do. He's my favorite…" She stopped and a small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. "Second favorite," she amended. "But he is chasing a dream that is just as important to him as hers are. He has the ability to succeed and I want that for him, I really do." She had encouraged Buzz, and she was proud of him. She could see the bright future that lay ahead of him if he fully embraced the opportunities that were going to open up to him. "This life is not easy," she rasped quietly. "It's going to be hard. I never wanted her to know…" She trailed off and let her teeth scrape across her bottom lip again. "I don't want her waiting by the phone and wondering if he's not coming home. I don't want her fearing when he's late that the last time she saw him was really the last moment they had together. I know what that feels like, and it is terrifying."

"Yeah." Andy couldn't argue with that. He wouldn't want it for Nicole either, or his son Charlie. He didn't much like it for himself either, but it was the life that they had chosen. It was the price that they paid for loving each other. He shrugged. "I get it." He'd had some pretty bad moments too over the last couple of years, before they were together and after. "But what we do, and the reason we do it, makes it worth it. Those will be the times that she's got you for. If she chooses him, and he keeps going with all this, she'll have to accept it. You can't protect her from loving a guy that wants to wear a badge."

"No." She agreed. "I really can't. Not when I'm doing it." She wound her arm around his neck and leaned into him again. Her lips touched the corner of his mouth, and then moved along his jaw. "I do love you," she said. "I hope that you know that." They had chosen a complicated road that wasn't always easy, but she was never a person that did things in half measures. When she made a decision she embraced it, and so she had embraced him. He had been there for her even before she had given in to the stirrings of her heart or the attraction that was drawing them together. It was how she had known that she would be able to talk to him, and he would be honest, even if his answers were sometimes hard to hear. That was not the case this time, but she knew that she could trust him to tell her the truth, and not just want she wanted to hear. He would tell her what she _needed_ to hear.

"I know." He held her just a little tighter. His hand moved into her hair to cup the back of her head. Andy turned his head to the side, and let their cheeks rest against one another. It never failed to amaze him what they had found when they both stopped running from it. He never allowed himself to imagine what it would be like to have her with him, as she was now. He cared about her, and was content with what they had before. He had shied away from thoughts of a closer relationship, for fear of somehow damaging what they already had. Even when he started to realize that they might just have a chance, he didn't think that it would be like this. He was careful with her at first, but then she surprised him with just how open and willing she was to the idea of love, once she chose to embrace it. "I love you too," he said, just as quietly.

Sharon tipped her head back again. She studied his face and the way that his lips were curving into the crooked grin that had butterflies dancing in her stomach. It never failed to make her melt, that smile. She watched his eyes crinkle at the corners and the way the gold flecks lit up the brown and made them burn just a little bit brighter when he was excited or pleased about something. She had worried that they would lose something in the transition from friends to lovers. She could not have been more wrong. He was still the person that she wanted to spend time with, even if it was just a lazy afternoon spent in front of a movie. He made her laugh. He wasn't afraid to stand his ground with her when they argued. When he held her, she didn't have to question that she was cared for.

She had friends, people that she shared interests with, and with whom she was very close. Then she had Andy, and he was someone that she could share the darkness of their work with, that would understand why they kept doing it. He could understand what her husband's addiction had done to her, and he could help her guide Rusty through similar issues with his biological mother. He wouldn't offer her pat answers or sympathetic responses. He could be her sounding board. He knew when she needed to be alone with her thoughts, and when that wasn't a great idea. All that she had wanted was a friend; it was all that she was looking for when they began spending time together. Instead she found something much deeper, and though her heart yearned for more of him, and he could bring her body to life with a look, or a simple touch, he was still first in her thoughts when it was just a friend that she needed the most.

She lifted a hand to his face. Her other arm was still wrapped around his shoulders. Her fingers were playing with the short, silver hair that was starting to grow too long against the nape of his neck. He would want to get it cut soon. Until then, she would enjoy combing her fingers through it. While she watched the light play in the sparkle of his eyes, she let the fingers of her other hand trace the familiar lines of his face. Her thumb swept across his bottom lip. She followed it with a soft kiss. "I know that it's Sunday," she began, her voice was a gentle murmur in the quiet garage, "but would it be okay if I stayed?" She didn't want to go home to a quiet, empty apartment, not when she had him to hold her.

That she still believed that she had to ask made grin. He laughed and dropped light kiss onto her upturned lips. "If I thought you'd let me get away with it, I wouldn't let you leave," he teased.

Sharon rolled her eyes at him. "You really are the biggest goofball that I know." She was laughing, though, even when he turned his face into her neck and teased the spot just above her shoulder that made her cringe and squeal, and laugh even harder.

He lifted her off her feet and kissed her soundly. When he set her down again, he moved away. "You can go on in if you want. I just need to finish wrapping all this up, grab a shower, and then I'm all yours."

"No, that's okay. I don't mind waiting." She watched him for a moment, once again busy with putting his tools away. Sharon walked over and leaned against his back. She rested her hands at his waist, and let her fingers slide into the belt loops of his jeans. She kissed the back of his neck and settled her chin against his shoulder. "I'll wash your back," she husked. When he turned his head toward her, she caught the corner of his mouth in a light kiss. Her hand slid across his back when she moved around him. Sharon leaned against the bench beside him and watched, patiently, as he put everything away with meticulous care.

When he was finished, he dusted off his hands again before reaching for her. Andy drew her into his side and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. His lips danced across her cheek. They left the garage and walked across the yard to his waiting house, the promise of a shared shower, and one more night to sleep in the arms of someone that was held so dear.

 **-TBC-**


	4. Chapter 4

**Leaping In**

 **by Kadi**

 **Rated T**

 **Disclaimer:** This is not my sandbox, this is just my favorite place to play. I promise to put all of the toys back when I'm done.

 **A/N:** To all of your comments since I posted the note on Chapter 3, I thought I would say... you rock! Love you all! Readers are some kind of awesome!

* * *

 **Chapter 4**

Despite the revelations of the weekend and Emily Raydor's sudden appearance and return to the city, life continued to progress in much the way that it had prior to her return. The routine of rehearsal and production prep was not new to her, and she managed to settle into that easily even with the change in venue. The learning curve came in cohabitating with another person. Emily had roommates in the past, but none that she was romantically involved with. It was a curious transition, the move from being responsible only for her own needs to having to incorporate the needs of another into the course of her day.

The first week was a juggling act. They had to find a way to mesh their schedules such that neither was late to work, and so that they could share Buzz's car. He saw no reason for Emily to rent a vehicle for the eight weeks that she would be in Los Angeles when his remained parked at the Police Admin Building for a large portion of the day. If he went anywhere during the day, he was riding with another member of Major Crimes. As luck would have it, the PAB was on Emily's way to the studio where she was rehearsing for _Coppélia_. She dropped him off each morning and had the car during the day. When his evenings ran late, he was able to get a ride from Amy or Julio, or Emily would pick him up and they would go to dinner.

Buzz took a lot of teasing in those first few days. It came primarily from Julio and Amy, but once Lieutenant Provenza had learned _why_ they were giving him such a hard time, he made sure that his opinion was more than heard on the matter of his relationship with Emily. As with most things, though, they had gotten over it pretty soon. Especially after having to turn their attention back on their next case. There were more important things for all of them to worry about than who any of them were dating.

Now they were well into the second week and Emily was starting to become a regular fixture in and around the PAB. Her schedule called for morning and afternoon rehearsals and left a large block of time open between the two. She would fill it by catching up with old friends who were still in town, or by swinging by to see her mother.

As they were filled in on yet another case, it was becoming obvious that with just a few differences, life was rolling along as it always had. They lived their lives between each investigation and tried not to let the darkness follow them home.

"I don't get it, how exactly is this our problem?" Andy Flynn tossed a file onto his desk and then dropped into his chair with a sigh. "The guy shot his wife, he confessed. What is the DA's problem?" He leaned forward in his chair. His arms were propped lazily against his knees while his hands were dangling loosely between them. "How exactly does this constitute a _Major Crime_? The guy has already been caught."

Provenza pointed at his partner. "What he said." He tossed the case file that he'd been handed onto his desk and leaned back in his own chair. The Captain had returned from a meeting in Taylor's office and started putting the information up on the board while the rest of them got up to speed on the case. "The _crime_ has been solved."

Sharon looked over the rim of her glasses at both of them and tapped the marker against her open palm. "Yes, but mistakes were made. We've been _requested_ by the DA's office to reopen the case and sure up the evidence. The confession happened prior to the suspect being mirandized, coupled with the fact that he is a sixty-five year old man who was tackled by the arresting officer. He was hardly running away. FID suspended the officer responsible and he is receiving the appropriate training. At his arraignment, Martin Hollings pled not guilty to the murder of his wife. The judge tossed out the confession. Without that, there's nothing to tie him to the crime."

"Really?" Flynn was staring at her. "He just woke up next to his wife, who happened to have half of her face missing, and what… the cat did it?" He rolled his eyes at the Captain. "Come on, he did it. He so obviously did it. There's no way he slept through his wife's head being blown off."

"It's always the husband," Provenza began to drawl, but one look at his captain had him stopping. He sighed. "So now we're cleaning up Robbery Homicide's messes? Don't we spend enough time cleaning up our _own_?"

Her brow arched. She could agree that they did, instead she tilted her head at them. "I don't particularly like this any better than you do, but the fact is, the District Attorney requested that we look into it after the mistakes made by Robbery Homicide. I would also agree," she stated, looking at Lieutenant Flynn, "that it looks very much as though Mister Hollings is responsible for his wife's death. It is rather obvious. The fact remains, however, that we have no evidentiary proof. There was no murder weapon," she ticked off on her fingers, "and the spatter found on his clothing was consistent with his having been laying beside his wife when she was shot. There was no gunshot residue on his hands or clothing. Martin Hollings can, and has, easily claimed that he was disoriented, panicked, and felt coerced. In large part, because the investigating detectives have beliefs much like yours, Lieutenant Provenza." She paused and looked at him. "That it is _always_ the husband."

"So not all of Robbery Homicide is completely useless," Flynn smirked at her. "Weirder things have happened." He leaned back in his seat and waved a hand at where Sykes and Tao were unloading the boxes that had been sent up to them by the other division. "So what, now they expect us to rework the entire case now that we've got no crime scene, no body, and no element of surprise with the main suspect? Yeah, sure, why not."

Sharon's lips pursed. The Lieutenant was in a mood today. She clasped her hands in front of her and leaned against Detective Sanchez's desk. "That is exactly," she said at length, "what they are expecting us to do. We have all of the evidence collected from the Hollings home," she nodded toward the boxes. "We have Doctor Morales's findings from the autopsy, and if need be, a court order to have the body exhumed, although it is doubtful that it will come to that. We have financial reports and witness statements. Honestly, Lieutenant, the case has practically been gift wrapped for you." Her eyes glittered at him. "What more could you possibly ask for?"

His eyes narrowed for just a moment, then he threw his hands up. "You're absolutely right, Captain." Flynn stood up. "What was I thinking? I'm going to get right on this." He gestured at the boxes. Andy walked across the room and took the lid off of one of them. "Why wouldn't I want to clean up someone else's screw up?"

Her lips pressed into a thin line while the others snickered. At his desk, she saw Provenza lower his head while his shoulders shook in silent laughter. Sharon tilted her head and looked toward the ceiling for a moment. Finally, she hummed. "Andy, with an attitude like that, you'd make a fine career in FID." Beside her, she was aware of Provenza choking.

"Yeah, been trained in that." He lifted a stack of files out of the box and waved them at her. "Trip your suspect? Anger management. Call a cross-dressing hooker a tranny, and it's off to Sensitivity training. Oh, and then, there was that one time, pissed off this Lieutenant _in_ FID, and damn… that one got me a full week of Diversity training."

"Do we even want to know what you did?" Tao squinted at him. Flynn had a rather long and colorful reputation and history for trouble. It wasn't only his association with Provenza during the past several years that had garnered that for him.

Flynn thought about it for a moment. On the other side of Buzz he spied Rusty looking entirely too interested. "Probably not," he decided. "I will tell you, it was epic."

"Epic?" Buzz screwed up his face at him. "Lieutenant, do we need to discuss proper use of the dictionary again? Actually, who even let you _have_ a dictionary? I thought we discussed this the last time?" Aside from the Captain, the Lieutenant was the only person from whom he had not received any teasing on the subject of his dating Emily Raydor. Even Rusty had enjoyed a few laughs at his expense, but the Lieutenant had stayed out of it. Whether that was because of his own relationship or not, Buzz couldn't say. He was grateful for that, just not grateful enough to change anything about their usual exchange of banter.

While the others chuckled, Sharon was considering how much longer she would allow it to go on. After another moment, she hummed quietly. She turned her head and looked at Provenza. "I rather enjoyed sending him to that one." She stood up and there was a look on her face that could be described as both nostalgic and gleeful. "I asked for two weeks but my Commander thought I was being over zealous."

Sykes's jaw dropped open as the Captain pushed away from the desk and walked back to the murder board. " _You_ sent the Lieutenant to Diversity training, Captain? For upsetting you?"

"Hm." She grinned. "Indeed, Detective." She glanced back over her shoulder with a pointed look directed at Flynn. "And I am not above doing it again."

"I'm digging," Andy muttered. He waved the files at her again. "See, this is me, digging."

"This is what comes of you transferring _out_ of FID," Provenza decided. He reached for the case file again and opened it. "Flynn is getting too full of himself, and since they all still idolize _you_ ," he told her. "There's no one down there willing to put him back in his place."

The afore mentioned Lieutenant lifted his head and scowled at his partner. "Hey, whose side are you on anyway?"

Provenza smirked at him. "Mine." He pointed a finger at him and shook it. "When you get out of control, I pay for it."

Flynn turned and pointed at him. "Now look—"

"Alright gentlemen," Sharon interrupted with a half smile, before they could get too far involved in an altogether too familiar argument. Whatever concerns that either of them had about their current romantic relationships affecting their partnership had been easily put to rest. They didn't spend as much time together outside of the department as they used to, but neither man seemed to mind that. They were still each other's go to for rabble rousing. "I might have failed to mention earlier," she explained, "that we have until nine o'clock tomorrow morning to find a reason for Martin Hollings to remain behind bars, otherwise he is being released. I suggest we get to work."

"You're kidding me?" Flynn looked at his watch. "It's three in the afternoon! That only gives us eighteen hours."

"Yes, Lieutenant," she sighed, not exactly pleased with that fact herself. "It's going to be a very long night." She wasn't holding out much hope that they would find anything in that amount of time, but this team had pulled off the impossible before, many times.

Where he sat at Buzz's workstation, Rusty raised his hand. "Does that mean all of us?" After Judge Grove had cut off Sharon as his information source for the Alice project, Rusty had looked for another way to get the resources that he needed. Those resources consisted of contacts and case file data, at least that data that didn't have any direct involvement in Slider's trial. Rusty had learned his lesson on that front. He also wanted to understand more about the investigation process. He didn't want to make the same mistakes that he made while he was looking for Alice's family. What he had learned so far was helping him out a lot, but he felt the need to know more. It was Emily's idea to look for an internship inside the Department.

As he was learning more about his sister, Rusty had discovered that her degree was in Art History, and she had actually interned at a Museum in New York the summer that she was auditioning for the American Ballet Theater. Later, while she was establishing herself with the company, she had worked part-time at an auction house. Rusty just thought that she liked to dance. What he was discovering was that there were a lot of ways for someone to realize their goals.

The internship that he was able to get allowed him to work with Buzz, and while he might have been uncomfortable before with the idea that Sharon had maneuvered him into that position, he knew that it was her way of still helping out with his VLOG. Although the Alice project was now over and Marianna Wallace was laid to rest, Rusty was looking for his next story. Granted, it was an _unpaid_ internship, but as Emily had explained it, they really looked great on college applications and resumes. So here he was, unpaid and working his butt off. Not that he really minded. It was kind of interesting, and he was used to spending time with the team. At least now he felt like he had a reason to be there, since it was kind of where he _wanted_ to be.

What Rusty had not told Emily, or even Buzz, was that he thought this might also help him keep an eye on whether or not Flynn was really keeping _his_ word. He promised to help find Paloma. He did that. What Rusty questioned was the rest of it. This whole dating thing with Sharon was a little unnerving. In his experience a mother's boyfriends were not always a great thing. He might be willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, at least for now, because that was what Sharon wanted… but if he found out he was lying, or if he hurt her, then all bets were off.

"Rusty." Buzz slanted a look at him and shook his head. "You were warned, and knew very well, that our work hours were not always normal. You're an assistant." He thrust a box toward him. "Assist."

At the murder board, Sharon glanced over with a smile. Buzz was enjoying having Rusty around far more than he would like to admit, if for no other reason than having someone else to do all the myriad tasks that were thrust upon him throughout the day. "Buzz, could you and Rusty set up the interviews that were conducted with Mister Hollings and his neighbors. I'd like to review them."

"Do you want them on the projector out here, or in electronics," Buzz asked, already sorting through the boxes for the discs that contained that data.

Sharon thought about it for a moment. "The projector will suffice. It wouldn't hurt for us to all have a look. Let's start with the 911 call." She held out a hand when Sykes approached with a folder and skimmed over the information. Then she began copying it on the board.

The two women worked in silence while photographs and details were placed. Over the course of the next half an hour, all of the pertinent facts of the case, as the DA's office knew them, were spread out in the Major Crimes murder room.

"Alright," Provenza stood up from his chair and walked over to stand at the edge of the room, near the secondary murder board. "Let's break it down." The projector was being lowered, and he was moving to where he would be able to see it. "On the night of June 23, a 9-1-1 call was placed from the Hollings residence at 2201 North Rainier Avenue. The call was received at around three in the morning."

Sharon glanced over as he stopped speaking. "Buzz, play it please."

" _911, what is your emergency?_ "

" _It's my wife, I think she's hurt. She must have fallen. There's blood on her head and she's not moving_." There was an edge of panic in Martin Hollngs's voice as it filled the Murder Room, but it was not quite bordering on the level of panic that one might expect. Concerned, but a decent defense attorney could explain it away as dazed and disoriented.

" _Emergency personnel are being dispatched to your location. Can you tell me your name sir?_ "

" _Hollings, Martin Hollings. My wife's name is Sue. Is… will they be here soon? I'm not sure she's breathing. I'm trying CPR but there's just so much blood!"_

" _EMS will arrive on scene shortly, Mister Hollings. Can you tell me where in the house you found your wife?_ "

" _The bedroom. I was asleep. I got up to go to the bathroom and I found her_. _Oh god,_ _she's dead. I think she's dead!"_

"That's good Buzz," Provenza waved at him to stop the playback. They had a transcript of the call, and from that moment, Mister Hollings became more excitable. "When EMS arrived on scene, Hollings let them into the home," he recited from the report. "Paramedics phoned police upon realizing that Mrs. Hollings had not fallen as the husband recounted in the call. Half of her face and head were missing, splattered on the pillows and headboard."

"The body had been moved," Andy picked up. He walked over and tapped the photos from the crime scene. "Hollings had tried to do CPR on his wife as stated, in so much as he could with the level of her _injuries_. He was covered in her blood. It was smeared on his face, hands, and clothing. Hollings told paramedics and responding patrol that he attempted to help his wife upon finding her. The patrol officer that tackled Hollings said that he was reaching into a drawer in the bedroom. They thought he was going for the murder weapon."

"He's a rookie," Sykes read from her report. "Only six months on the job. Over zealous."

Sharon nodded. "Which is why FID is sending him to training. He won't be formally reprimanded, but he was suspended for the duration of the investigation." She had done dozens of such recommendations during her tenure with that division. The guidelines for how patrol officer Stewart Lawrence was being handled were in large part her own. As was much of the FID handbook. "At that point, Mister Hollings was taken into custody by the LAPD, and the case was passed on to Robbery Homicide, as it was _not_ deemed a Major Crime at the time of its occurrence."

"Yeah," Andy paged through a case file. He snorted and his brows drew together in a scowl. "Well, that explains it; the case was handled by Lewis and Davidson. Those jokers wouldn't know their asses from—" He glanced up and spotted the look on the Captain's face. Andy quickly trailed off. "Right. So anyway, Lewis and Davidson caught the case. They interviewed Hollings at the scene. In the meantime SID and the Medical Examiner's office showed up to pick up the body and evidence."

"Buzz," the Captain waved a hand at him, indicating they were ready to start with the interviews.

The first was conducted on scene. They watched as the responding Robbery Homicide officers walked through the house while a camera man, who was not in anyway up to Buzz's standards, trailed after them. There was a blood trail from the bedroom to the door, documented by Hollings letting EMS into the house. The bedroom was a mess.

SID found no signs of struggle, forced entry, or a murder weapon anywhere inside the house or on the grounds. When Robbery Homicide initially interviewed Martin Hollings he was visibly anxious with police, thanks to having been tackled by the rookie patrolman. He explained to the detectives that he had not heard anything, but had taken a sleep aid the evening before due to a headache. An Ambien prescription was found in the Hollings medicine cabinet. Robbery Homicide raked the man over the coals in their questioning. It was rapid fire and designed to further disorient the already disoriented man.

"What about the confession," Flynn asked, after the playback of the interview had ended. "The notes say that Hollings made a spontaneous confession to having killed his wife. Where is that? I don't see it here."

"It was made to Paramedics and patrol," Sharon was paging through her own file. "Hollings stated to them, _Oh my god, I killed my wife_." She shrugged. "It was said after Patrolman Lawrence _secured_ him, and when Hollings recanted the confession, he said that he was frightened and believed that he'd somehow injured her by moving her in his attempts to do CPR."

"Which we're not buying for a second," Provenza stated. He walked back toward his desk and took a seat.

"No," Sharon agreed. "Martin Hollings is a Cardiologist at Pacific Health Medical Center in Santa Monica. Until recently he was the head of their cardiology department. He recently stepped down, stating a desire to return to patient practice and allowed the position to go to another doctor. He knew how to perform CPR, and he would have known upon seeing his wife that she was already deceased. Statements gathered from neighbors, colleagues, and friends all say the same thing. He is an incredibly intelligent man."

"So he could have easily staged the entire scene," Flynn said. "Shoots his sleeping wife in the head. Gets rid of the weapon, the residue, calls 9-1-1, and then while he's waiting for EMS to show up he tries to _save_ her. It's a pretty gruesome scene, he knows he'll be the prime suspect, so he provokes the police on scene into a reaction that he can later use against them, and makes his spontaneous confession. Then he plays confused and clueless with Lewis and Davidson, who aren't the sharpest tools in the shed already. They're a couple of loose canons, he gets them to react, so it can be said that they are coercing him, and he signs his spontaneous confession. Later, after he's had time to calm down and think about it, he recants."

"Yes." Sharon hitched her hip against Julio's desk and folded her arms so that the case file was held against her chest. "The only question is how do we prove it? There is no murder weapon, and the forensic evidence supports that Hollings was lying beside his wife when she was shot. How did he manage that? Splatter and wound patterns indicate the wife was shot by someone standing over the bed here," she pointed to the side of the bed depicted in the crime scene photos.

"He hired it out." Provenza suggested. "He paid someone to shoot his wife. He let them into the house, laid down beside her. Afterward, they left, taking the murder weapon with them."

"I don't think so." Tao said. "There are no large payouts from the Hollings bank accounts. I'm looking at their financial records, and nothing here is consistent with a murder for hire."

"No, he's too smart for that." Flynn's eyes were narrowed as he studied the murder board. "He took his clothes off." He pointed the file in his hand at the board. "The smart son of a bitch. He took his clothes off and laid them on the bed beside the wife. Then he shot her, showered, got dressed and then staged the rest of the scene. It explains the spatter and void patterns."

"Yes," Sharon agreed. "But we still have to prove it."

"We need that gun," Provenza said. "It's got to be in that house somewhere." He was still reading the original notes. "Neither vehicle in the garage had been recently driven, SID checked, the engines were cold. He didn't leave the house after he shot his wife. It's got to be there somewhere."

"SID poured over every inch of the house and yard," Flynn said. "They didn't find it." His bottom lip poked out for a moment, while his head inclined. "Have we still got a warrant for the house?"

"And the garage," Sharon told him. "As well the grounds. That covers anything located inside either structure or within the property line. What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking we can sit here all night looking at all this crap," he tossed the folder onto the desk. "Or we can go look for that gun. If Hollings' prints are on it, we've got him."

"Robbery Homicide and SID have been all over that house," Provenza pointed out. "The gun was no where to be found. What makes you think that we can find what a team of Robbery Homicide's best and brightest missed?"

The sarcasm in his tone was met by a bland look from his partner. "I could point it out for you," Flynn drawled, "but the Captain doesn't like it when I use that kind of language in front of the kid." He waved a hand in Rusty's general direction. "But later, when the kid ain't around, I'll even draw you a diagram."

Provenza snapped his fingers and pointed at his partner. "I knew those water colors we got you would come in handy for more than just finger painting with your shrink."

When Julio bowed his head and began to choke on his own laughter, Sharon rolled her eyes at them. She slapped the folder in her hand against Flynn's chest as she walked by. "I agree that it's unlikely we'll find anything, but it is worth a look. Take Detective Sanchez and Buzz with you. Have SID join you—"

"What about me." Rusty popped up from his seat near Buzz's workstation. "It's not a real crime scene anymore. I could go—"

"I don't think so." Sharon continued her stroll to her office. "Besides, we are going to need you here, filling in for Buzz while he is with Lieutenant Flynn."

Rusty was tempted to slump back into his seat, but then an idea occurred. Buzz was smirking at him, as though he knew that Sharon was _never_ going to allow him to go to a crime scene. The teenager's head tilted. He tapped a finger against his lips. "That means, I could potentially run the equipment in electronics."

"Wait…" Buzz's smirk faded. "What?" He twisted where he stood. "Captain?"

Sharon ignored him. She stopped at her office door and turned. Her attention was not on them, however. "Lieutenant," she directed at Provenza, "why don't you call over to county and have Mr. Hollings brought in. I think we should have a chat with him."

"I don't know about this," Buzz said. He looked mildly panicked at the idea of leaving his equipment in the teenager's hands, even if he had taught him how to use it all.

Provenza decided to poke at his discomfort. "You know, I can get to like this. No more waiting around for Buzz to get back. We could get twice the work done." He smirked as he reached for his phone, to call County as requested.

"Are you sure you're feeling okay?" Flynn flashed a concerned look at him, where he stood pulling his jacket on. "Twice the work? Really?"

"The way I see it," the older Lieutenant continued. "The more we do, the faster we get done. The sooner I get back to my crossword and watching you act like a complete dunderhead."

Andy rolled his eyes. "Yes, that sounded more like it." He grabbed his keys and waved toward the door. "Come on, Julio. Let's get out of here. We don't want to disappoint the _old man_."

"You said I was the assistant." Rusty smirked at Buzz. "I'm off to assist." He rubbed his hands together, looking entirely too pleased with himself as he headed over to get electronics ready for an interview.

"Don't worry, Buzz." Tao slapped him on the shoulder as he walked by, following Rusty. "I've got it." Technically an interview had to be recorded by a member of the LAPD. If not Buzz, then one of them. The intern could assist, but he couldn't be left totally in charge of the equipment.

"Just… don't leave him alone with anything. Don't let him move anything around," Buzz stated, as he took his bag and his camera and made to follow the other detectives. "For crying out loud, no _eating_ or _drinking_ in there," he called after them.

"Come on Buzz," Julio beckoned. "Crime scene isn't going to film itself."

Buzz followed after them, but muttered under his breath. "I'm wondering if having an assistant was such a good idea after all…"

Provenza watched them go and cast a look at Sykes. "There is just no pleasing some people."

The detective snorted and fought a laugh, because the irony of _him_ saying that was not lost on her.

 **-TBC-**


	5. Chapter 5

**Leaping In**

 **by Kadi**

 **Rated T**

 **Disclaimer:** This is not my sandbox, this is just my favorite place to play. I promise to put all of the toys back when I'm done.

* * *

 **Chapter 5**

The Hollings's home was a sprawling two-story structure situated in the hills above Los Angeles. The actual address put it in Holmby Hills. It was an affluent neighborhood located between Beverly Hills and Bel Air, where the large homes were hidden behind tall gates. The home that Martin Hollings and his wife had resided in was no different. A wrought iron gate had opened inward to give the officers access to the home. The Charger driven by Detective Sanchez, along with the patrol car for the officers assigned to the detectives, pulled slowly onto the estate, and followed a long, circular driveway until their vehicles came to a stop in front of the house.

Once they were out of their cars, the officers followed a stone walkway around the house to the back, where they were given a view of the sloping grounds, and the city beyond. There was a separate garage that the SID reports indicated housed several cars; their make and models ranged from the antique to the modern and sporty. There was also a pool house with a large, curving pool that sported a waterfall at one end; and well-manicured lawns surrounded all of it.

Julio shook his head. "If you live in a place like this, what is there to fight with your wife about?"

Andy snorted quietly where he stood, pulling on gloves before entering the residence. "There's always a reason to fight with your wife," he paused for a moment before muttering quietly, "or your girlfriend."

Buzz fought the urge to grin. Although they worked hard to keep their relationship out of the PAB, his proximity to the Captain and Lieutenant through his friendship with Rusty and dating of Emily had given him the unique opportunity to witness what went on when they were away from work. The Lieutenant was in the doghouse, and how he was going to get himself out again, Buzz didn't know. He didn't know all of the details, but it had apparently involved quite the impressive display of possessive behavior with the Captain's ex-husband.

Emily told him that the pair of them had almost come to blows, although she didn't know what the argument was about. She was firmly on the Lieutenant's side, and agreed that her father had overstepped, quite a lot, but her mother was not impressed with either man. She was not a prize to be fought over, and was refusing to speak to the Lieutenant outside of work until he apologized for his boorish behavior. With what Buzz knew about Flynn that might take some time. The man could be incredibly stubborn on a normal day, but especially when he felt that he was in the right _and_ just. He and Emily were taking bets on how long it would last and who would give in first.

Julio snickered quietly at the older man. "What? She still hasn't forgiven you?" He shook his head at the Lieutenant as they walked toward the house. The Patrol officers that had accompanied them had already gained access and were sweeping the house. He stopped, just long enough to slip on a pair of gloves before following them inside. "I told you what to do."

"Not happening." Andy shot a frustrated look at him. "I am not dropping a hundred and fifty bucks on flowers and apologizing for—" He stopped for a moment and looked at Buzz. "You're not recording yet, right?"

"Nope." He grinned. "But I can… Do we want your refusal to apologize on the record?"

Andy's eyes narrowed. "You don't get to weigh in." He sniffed. "Anyway," he waved his hand at Julio. "I'm not dropping that much on flowers when I know that I was right. She should be buying me the damned flowers for not letting me pop the son of a bitch in the mouth for the crap that he was saying to her."

"You've been single too long." Julio shook his head. "It doesn't work like that. Even when you're right, you're wrong. Just suck it up and get the flowers." He looked over at Buzz. "What does Emily say?"

He paused in getting his camera ready and shrugged. "That her mother will cave. I hope not, my money is on the Lieutenant."

"See!" Andy nodded. "I knew that I was right. I'm just going to wait it out." The only problem with that was that it was damned lonely and he wasn't sleeping so great. He wanted her beside him.

"Yeah?" Julio flashed a wide, devious grin at him. "Well, while you're waiting for her to cave, can I ask her out?"

"You're not right." Andy followed him through the house. "What kind of friend are you? I knew this was going to happen. All the guys that get in trouble with her end up wanting to date her later…"

"All the ones we know anyway," Buzz lifted his camera onto his shoulder. "Okay, we're rolling. Where do you want to start looking?"

"Let's start down here," Andy suggested. "I think the guy stashed the gun before he went back upstairs to finish staging the scene. It's why there was no blood splatter or transfer beyond what he tracked from the bedroom and back when he let the paramedics in."

"SID and Robbery Homicide were all over this house," Buzz reminded him. "Do you really think they just missed it?"

"I think they had to." Andy wouldn't remind him, again, that Robbery Homicide couldn't find their asses with all hands, a map, and a demonstration. At least, he wouldn't while the camera was rolling. Instead, he just shrugged. "Unless Hollings had a partner, he didn't have time to leave. There was no evidence that anyone else gained access to the house; there were no unidentified prints, nothing. If Hollings didn't do it," he said, in deference to the fact that the camera was rolling, "then he didn't do it. But if he did, and that gun is here, we gotta find it."

"It's just us and these guys," Julio said, nodding to the two patrol officers. SID had not been able to spare a team to join them yet. "You think four guys and a rookie reserve cop that's running a camera are going to do what a couple dozen SID officers and Robbery Homicide couldn't?"

"We have to do something," Andy pointed out. "We've only got until tomorrow morning, and sitting on our asses in the Murder Room isn't getting it done. Look, we'll start at the back of the house and work our way forward. One room at a time. Maybe not just look at only the most obvious places. Let's turn it upside down and see what we find."

"Alright." Julio still wasn't convinced, but he had to agree that it was better than doing nothing.

They started at the back of the house. There was an office there that belonged to their chief suspect. They had Buzz pan out and get a good shot of the room, and then he stood to one side and filmed while they searched. As Flynn suggested, they turned the room over. They looked under every cushion, inside every drawer, and checked for false bottoms or extra openings. They checked the walls and behind paintings, looking for a hidden safe, and pulled books from shelves.

Room by room they slowly moved through the house. A few times both Flynn and Julio traded off with Buzz, running the camera while the rookie reserve officer got his chance to help with the search, and put a little more experience under his belt. He had spent years watching them conduct those sorts of searches, had filmed, and reviewed, and catalogued the footage. That didn't stop either of the detectives from guiding him through the search as if he had never been near one before. Buzz grinned and bore it, he listened to what they told him and filed it away for later.

What the Hollings's had was a really big house. It took hours before they reached the second floor. They were getting ready to call it a day when Julio called out from the master bedroom. They had left that room for last, not expecting that they would find anything there. It was just too obvious.

"Lieutenant." He waved the older man over. "What do you make of this?"

Beside the bed, which still bore the stains of Mrs. Hollings's blood, there was an end table. The spatter had been marked and photographed for the case file. Julio knelt in front of it. The drawers opened, just as he expected that they would, although the spatter was undisturbed, which indicated that the table had _not_ been opened following the shooting. Julio indicated the section between the two drawers. It seemed to pull away, to slide to one side before opening, a bit like a wooden puzzle box. "Does the report say anything about this?" The Detective asked.

Andy walked over and bent down to look at it. "I don't think it did, but I really didn't read it that close." There hadn't been time for that. He nodded toward the table, "open it up, and let's see what we find… Buzz, get over here and get a closer shot."

Upon opening the small compartment they found, not the weapon they were looking for, but shell casings. That was something else that had been missing from the crime scene. Hidden with them was part of the gun; it was only a small piece, just the slide shop, but it was enough to tell them _why_ they had not yet located the murder weapon.

"The crazy son of a bitch took it apart." Andy shook his head as he leaned back. He watched Julio reach in and pull the evidence out so that Buzz could get close-up shots of each piece that was pulled out. There were two shell casings and the slide shop. They had been looking for a whole gun, and not _parts_ of a gun. There were any number of places in which the parts of that gun could have been hidden. This was going to broaden their search considerably. Andy reached for his phone and began dialing. "It's going to be a long damned night," he grumbled.

 **MCMCMCMCMCMC**

When Martin Hollings arrived from holding they had him settled in Interview room two. Since they had not previously spoken with this suspect, and knew only what Robbery Homicide had gathered on him, Sharon stood in electronics studying him. Her arms were folded across her chest. Her lips pursed while she studied him on the monitor in front of her. Amy and Mike were seated at the table in front of her; they had flanked Rusty so that they could keep an eye on him _and_ the monitors while the interview was being conducted.

Sharon glanced at the Lieutenant beside her. Like her, Provenza was studying their suspect. The man in front of them was sitting calmly in the interview room. There was none of the fidgeting or nervous behavior that they witnessed in his earlier interviews with Robbery Homicide. He was calm, maybe even a little _too_ calm. By now Hollings would have spoken to his lawyer. He would know that the case against him was unraveling, and that they had a very limited amount of time in which to find the evidence they needed to keep him behind bars. Of course he was calm. He thought that he was about to get away with murder.

Sharon's eyes narrowed. She preferred to deal in facts, and they had precious few of those, but there was something in his demeanor that just bothered her. "What do you think, Lieutenant?"

He cast a brief, sidelong look at her. "Well, you don't want to hear that it's _always_ the husband, but whatever else we know about this job…" He shook his head. "I can tell you it was definitely _that_ husband." He had sat across from, observed, and questioned a lot of suspects in his time. He could usually, if not always, pick out the ones that had something to hide. Whether it was the murder itself, or something related, he always knew if they were trying to snow him under.

There was something about looking into the eyes of another human being and seeing darkness. It could eat away at a person's soul, try and swallow them. There were days, dull and bleak, with no relief in sight, when it seemed like the darkness might just win. It never did, not completely. They always found a way to push it back, to hold it aside, just for a little while longer. They took their wins where they could find them, and that usually meant speaking up for their victims and putting their murderers behind bars. That was their win, and sometimes even that was lacking. The system did not always work in their favor, but they kept trying.

The system wasn't working in their favor at the moment either, but they would find a way to beat it too. Provenza shook his head. "He thinks he's got the upper hand, and right now he does. We don't have squat to keep him, and the only thing we've got to talk about right now is everything that Robbery Homicide has already been over with him. He's rehearsed that story a thousand times. Giving it one more time isn't going to make much difference."

"No," she agreed. "It isn't." Sharon's lips pursed thoughtfully. "What it will do is put him in front of us while he repeats it. We will let Doctor Hollings deliver his lines one more time, but he is going to have to look you and I in the eyes while he does it." She slanted a look at him. "He also doesn't know that we have a team at the house searching for the murder weapon. With any luck they'll find something before our interview is over, but whether they do or not…" She shrugged. They would find a way around that too. They could give Hollings the impression that they had it, without necessarily coming right out and saying as much. They could mislead him into making an admission, but it would be a fine line that they were walking. Sharon looked at the monitors again. She was getting very good at walking the line.

She had come to realize that the rules could not exist in black and white. There was quite a lot of gray in between. Their regulations protected them, as much as they protected society that was something that she still believed wholeheartedly. There were just times when it was better to make the rules work _for_ them, rather than trying to conform themselves. They could do that, without crossing the line and compromising themselves. They could do it without compromising the law or their integrity. It just required having a very good understanding of the rules and how far they could be bent without being broken. Four years after joining Major Crimes, she was beginning to think that her people were finally understanding just how much they had needed her; if there was one thing that she knew, it was the rules. Maybe, she was finally beginning to understand how much _she_ needed them.

"Let's see what Doctor Hollings has to say for himself," Sharon decided. They had stood staring at him long enough. There was nothing else that they were going to learn. "Mike, you'll keep an eye on things here?" She fought the urge to smile when Rusty sighed.

"Yes, Captain." Tao glanced up at her. He grinned over the top of Rusty's head. "It will be okay. I have an eye on all the equipment. We won't let the little Mini-Buzz touch anything he shouldn't."

"Really?" Rusty scowled at him while Amy snickered. "That was wrong on so many levels. I can totally do this!" He huffed a sigh at them. "Buzz has let me work the equipment a dozen times, especially when I was looking at all the footage on Alice, _and,_ " he continued, "we've shot my VLOG in here several times. I've totally got this."

"Hm." Sharon offered him an indulgent smile. "Yes, but you are not a member of the LAPD. You are an intern." She was still smiling when she turned to walk to the exit. "Remind me to have Lieutenant Flynn look up that word for you in his dictionary… before I take it away from him."

Rusty stared at her back. It was all that he could do not to wrinkle his nose or otherwise make a face. He also held his tongue, and _that_ was painful. It took a lot to not comment on the fact that just because she was fighting with her boyfriend did not mean that she could take it out on him. Not that she was, but his temptation to say it was very strong. He refrained, however, and just sighed again. "It's not funny," he muttered, and glared at a still laughing Amy.

"It is," she told him. "It so is." Amy looked across him at Tao. "Our little Rusty, he's all grown up."

"Actually working the cases now instead of just witnessing them," Mike remarked with a half grin.

"Okay, that was definitely wrong," Rusty said. From the corner of his eye he saw Amy lift something. "Hey!" He reached out and lifted the sign. "No drinks!"

"Nice try." She smirked.

"Yeah." Mike sat back in his chair and got comfortable. "When the Buzz is away… it's okay, you'll learn," he told him.

Rusty groaned. "I really hate it when you say that…" It usually meant a lot of long, technical discussions. The rest of the time, well, he didn't get a lot of sleep. Somehow, he had a feeling this would end up costing him sleep _and_ a technical talk. Buzz was going to flip out when he found out they had been drinking in the electronics room.

The moment that the door of the interview room opened, Martin Hollings gaze lifted toward it. He watched the two officers as they came into the room and took seats in front of him. His head tilted inquisitively. These were not the younger officers he dealt with before. No, these two were nearer to his age. Perhaps the man was actually his age or older. He had has hands clasped together in his lap; Martin kept them there until they were settled. "You have more questions for me, yes?"

Sharon resisted the urge to glance at the Lieutenant beside her. Even with his calm demeanor, she had not quite expected Hollings to be so forward. Her brow arched, but she smiled pleasantly. "As a matter of fact we do." She took a moment to introduce herself and the Lieutenant before launching into it. "We would like to talk to you about the night that your wife died." Sharon had brought the file with her. It was lying on the table in front of her. She tapped it. "We've read all of the reports and interview notes. I was hoping that you could tell me what happened in your own words."

"I discussed those events with the other officers," Martin said. "You have all of those notes and recordings, yes?" He looked between the two of them. "Is it really necessary to talk about all of it again? It was a very difficult night."

"Yes, I understand that," Sharon offered a sympathetic smile. "It is important to us, though, to understand exactly what occurred. We need to get to the bottom of what happened to your wife. We would like to find the person responsible."

"Even if that person is me?" Martin smiled at her. "I thought it was well within my right to not say anything which might incriminate myself? My dealings with your department have not, thus far, filled me with a lot of confidence."

Provenza glanced at the Captain before shaking his head. He didn't have the patience for this, but he sighed while he tried to find it. "Well it doesn't look great. Your wife was shot, in the head, while you were sleeping beside her. Maybe you can see where someone might think you had something to do with that. If you didn't, this is your chance to help us figure out who did."

Hollings looked between them again. A slow smile curved his lips. "Okeedokee." He leaned forward and clasped his hands together against the table. "I went to bed a little before Sue. I had a terrible headache, so I took a pill to help me sleep. It was just a bit of Ambien, but I had a glass of wine with dinner. It probably wasn't a very good idea to mix the two, and I went down a lot deeper than I thought."

Sharon was making notes while he spoke. So far much of what he said lined up with exactly what he had told the other officers during his first interview. "I see," she nodded slowly. "Can you tell me what woke you? In your previous statement, you said that you did not hear a gunshot or any other movement in the bedroom. When you woke up you found your wife."

"I'm not entirely sure, really." Martin shrugged. "I know that I got up to go to the loo. I wasn't paying much attention to Sue. It was late, and she was in bed. Something smelled odd in the room, though. I turned on the light, and that was when I saw Sue. With the way the blood was covering the side of her head and the edge of the headboard, I feared that she had fallen while getting into bed. I tried to help her," he spread his hands in front of him. "But it was a useless endeavor, as you know. Sue was already dead. I'm afraid that I fell into a bit of a panic. I called for help, and I suppose the paramedics involved the police. When the cops arrived they attacked me."

"Attacked?" Provenza arched a brow at the man. "Can you be more specific about that?"

"Well yes," Martin shrugged. "The young officer tackled me to the ground. I wasn't entirely sure what was happening. I'm afraid I wasn't much in possession of all my faculties at the time. I had just found my wife severely injured, dead actually, and I didn't know how she had gotten that way." Martin focused his attention on the Captain. He had already figured out he would not make much headway with the Lieutenant. It was upon her that he decided to focus his charms. "Have you never been so distraught that for just a brief moment in time you forgot everything that you know? All of your training, and all of your higher thought functions? Have you never been so lost in the fear, in the crushing weight upon your chest that you fought only to draw your next breath. It burns through you, you see, that fear. It is unsettling the way that it can take over your whole being. All that you have left is that feeling. I was reeling, you see. I no longer knew if I was coming or going, dreaming or awake. Those other officers they just kept asking the same questions over and over again, those detectives that I spoke to before. All I wanted to know was where my Sue had gone. So yes, I was a little confused when I spoke to them. I'm not really sure all that I said. I think after a while I just said what they wanted to hear."

"I see." The captain hummed quietly. Her lips pursed in thought. He wanted to get inside her head, but that wasn't going to happen. She had dealt with far worse and far more intelligent adversaries than Martin Hollings. Sharon gave the appearance of it, however. She leaned forward a bit and allowed her lashes to lower, and her voice to soften. "That must have been terrible for you," she said. "How long were you married to your wife, Mister Hollings—" She stopped and fluttered her lashes, just a bit. "Or do you prefer Doctor?"

"Either salutation will do." He sighed mournfully. "Thirty-three years," he said. "Sue and I met in college. She was studying history. She wanted to go on, finish her degree, and work in a Natural History museum." Hollings tilted his head at her; his lips quirked up into a small smile. "I was going to Medical School. It was going to be a tough endeavor, very time consuming, and incredibly expensive. Sue acquired her teaching certificate and she worked while I studied. The plan was always for her to go back to school after I graduated and began my residency, but well…" He sighed and offered a shrug. "The children came along instead." His brows lifted; Martin started intently at the Captain. "Things don't always work out as we plan. I was very successful, and Sue enjoyed a different lifestyle instead."

Sharon felt a chill run down her spine. Beside her she felt Lieutenant Provenza shift in his seat. Hollings had just recounted her life, with a few notable exceptions. She schooled her face into a carefully understanding smile. "I'm sure that she was very happy," she stated quietly. "Do you have any reason to believe that someone would have wanted to harm your wife?"

In the interview room Mike and Amy exchanged a look. Between them, Rusty was shaking his head. "What just happened?" The air in the room had just gotten thick and even he could sense that the interview had taken an odd turn.

"Something not good," Mike said. "Amy, go and pull all of Hollings's library visits from county. Find out what he's been looking up." He took out his own cell phone. "I'm going to call SID and find out if they still have the couple's computers. I want to get a look at his search history from before his wife was killed."

Rusty's brows knit together in confusion. "Why? What does that have to do with killing his wife?"

"Call it a gut feeling," Tao explained. "I think he was looking into the history of the officers that would most likely investigate his wife's death. He was preparing for this interview. If that's the case, even without the murder weapon, we may be able to prove pre-meditation. At least enough for the DA's office to get a deal, if not an outright conviction."

The teenager's eyes widened. "You mean he was researching Sharon _before_ his wife died? Like, before he killed her? That's just creepy."

"Yeah," Mike agreed. "Very creepy."

 **-TBC-**


	6. Chapter 6

**Leaping In**

 **by Kadi**

 **Rated T**

 **Disclaimer:** This is not my sandbox, this is just my favorite place to play. I promise to put all of the toys back when I'm done.

* * *

 **Chapter 6**

The hour had grown late by the time that Sanchez and Flynn returned to the Murder Room, along with Buzz and the few items of evidence that they found. In addition to the shell casings and part of the slide they located, they had also managed to find part of the barrel, the trigger housing, and an empty clip that they thought the bullets might have come from. It was conceivable that Hollings could have spread the rest of the gun parts in the trash. They had SID checking to see what, if anything, had been collected and was still logged into evidence. They weren't holding their breath.

"Julio." Tao waved a hand in the air when he saw him. "Good, you can help me with this." He had Martin Hollings's computer from SID and was working on pulling the search history. What he was finding was not making him feel better about the creepy turn that their case had taken.

Provenza eyed the men as they filed back into the Murder Room. "He took it _apart_?" His disbelief at that fact was still fresh. He had witnessed suspects doing a lot of things to get rid of murder weapons before, but never anything quite this specific.

Andy lifted the evidence bags in his hand and gave them a shake. "Piece by rotten piece." He walked over and dropped them onto his desk. "We only recovered a few of them. We've got SID checking what they brought back, and tomorrow we'll have someone from SID go back out and drag the coy pond. He might have tossed the rest. Who the hell knows? Sneaky bastard."

"You have no idea," Provenza shook his head. He was still aggravated from the interview they had conducted. "That sneaky bastard is back in holding, but be glad you weren't here for that. This one is a piece of work, let me tell you."

"Yeah?" Andy had already figured that out for himself. "What did the crazy dirtbag do?" He grinned crookedly. "Compliment your tie?"

"Worse." Julio was leaning over Tao's shoulder, getting caught up on what he had found so far. "He really did his homework. Do I already have all of this?"

"I've been copying you on it as I pull it down," Tao explained. "Amy has the first set of hard copies."

She held them up as Flynn walked over and let him take them. "We're hoping it's enough to definitely keep him in jail through the nine o'clock deadline. That will give us more time to find the rest of the weapon, but it's pretty incriminating on it's own."

It only took Andy a moment to figure out that what he was holding were search records. Hollings had pulled down information on Major Crimes dating back to when it had still been called Priority Homicide. He had basic information on all of them, mostly just blurbs, the kinds of information that reporters liked to throw into their articles to either make them seem better or worse, depending on the angle of the story. He had compiled only cursory amounts of information on Julio and Amy; their backgrounds hadn't really interested him. There was a lot about Mike in his search, he had apparently wanted to make sure he knew as much as he could about the division's resident technical guru.

Hollings had recorded notable cases worked by himself or Provenza, with a good deal of attention paid to how long both of them had been on the force. Good god but that made him feel old. Andy curled his lip at it and kept reading. There wasn't a lot of personal information to be had about them; their lives weren't exactly extraordinary. They had both been married and divorced, and that had apparently not interested Hollings much. What had his jaw clenching and his teeth grinding together were the many times that Sharon's name appeared in his search history. Once he managed to get a basic amount of information on her, he began building more of a profile.

It wasn't hard to figure out that she had been married, and to whom. Hollings was able to pull everything that he could by searching on Jack. There were pictures and articles, some from the society section of the paper, dating back to when Jack had first started making a name for himself as a lawyer. Up and coming. The happily married power couple; it wasn't the pictures that turned his stomach. Andy knew that they had been happy once; it was the fact that Hollings had even looked.

"Son of a bitch," he muttered.

"It gets better." Tao cast a glance at him. "He paid particular attention to the Captain's marriage and her climb through Internal Affairs."

"Then he dropped it on her in the interview," Provenza muttered. "But that's not all… Tao," he waved a hand at the other man to continue.

Mike turned in his chair to face the room. "Those are the most recent searches. He wasn't really focused on the Captain until he finished researching our involvement with the Stroh and Weller cases. That is the part that he really had fun with."

He could feel the tension rising between his shoulder blades. Andy tossed the pages back down onto Amy's desk. "Where is she now?" He looked around, but didn't spot her in her office.

"Break room." Provenza rolled his eyes at his partner. "It's fine. She handled it. I haven't seen her that mad in a while." She was livid when they got out of the interview. She let Hollings think that he had rattled her, but the moment they were out of that room she was snapping orders and placing calls. Much of what she was asking them to do Tao and Amy had already started on. "The point is, Martin Hollings didn't just kill his wife."

"He planned it." Sharon strode into the room, a steaming cup of tea in hand. "I suppose that he felt a little insulted when he was confronted with Robbery Homicide rather than Major Crimes. He didn't account for that variable, but he has our attention now. Mike, how is it going?"

Tao swiveled back around to face his computer. "I'm downloading the rest of it now. We should have all of it in a few minutes. If nothing else, you can get him on stalking."

"I would like to get him for Murder, Lieutenant," Sharon shook her head and smiled tiredly, "but I will keep that in mind." She let her attention shift back to Andy. "It was in pieces?"

"Yep." He shrugged at her. Andy decided he would tease her later about channeling her inner Provenza. "We'll get it logged in and sent down to SID. We've already got them looking for the rest. We can't prove it's the gun that shot his wife, but it's pretty damned odd he'd have parts of it in the table beside where her head got blown apart."

"Hm." She nodded slowly. "Indeed. Add that to his sudden and inexplicable hero worship of this division, and it doesn't look at all good for our new friend Mister Hollings."

Rusty was seated beside the printer, pulling the hard copies as they finished. For now they were forgoing Lieutenant Provenza's five cent per copy rule. He was too keen on putting Hollings away to really keep an eye on it. The teenager's brows drew together as he lifted the latest print out. "Hey Sharon, I thought you went to Internal Affairs after you had Ricky."

She hummed as she took a sip of her tea and shook her head. "No, it was before." Both her career and her marriage had been put on display thanks to Hollings, but at least it was only the public aspect of it all. Much of what her division was finding out was easily searchable. Obviously, as their suspect had uncovered it.

"Huh." Rusty shook his head. "Well, one thing is certain. What they say about the eighties is true. Bad clothes and big hair." He turned the sheet toward her. There was a grainy black and white photograph. "You're right, straight is better. The curls didn't work for you."

There was entirely too much mischief in the sparkle of his eyes. Sharon rolled her eyes toward Buzz. "The interview footage is ready to be compiled, and I'm sure you have video from the search too?"

"Come on Rusty." Buzz walked over and took the papers out of his hand; he passed them to Lieutenant Provenza and with a hand curled around the teenager's arm, he walked him toward electronics. "You can help me download everything and get it ready for the DA's office."

Sharon drew a breath and let it out slowly. She made a mental note that she owed him one, and decided that she would send him out with Emily to a trendy restaurant of their choosing, on her. "Thank you, Buzz." She ignored Rusty's protesting as he was led away and walked over to the murder board to update it. She noted each piece of evidence uncovered and _where_ it had been found. While she worked she could feel eyes on her. She glanced over and caught Andy watching her, while trying to make it appear as if he wasn't. The only problem with that was the fact that by now they were both accustomed to playing that game. She pretended not to notice. She knew that he was concerned, but however much she might appreciate that, the hours were ticking away and Sharon needed him focused on the case.

There was also a little voice in the back of her head that reminded her that she was angry with him. Although if Sharon was perfectly honest with herself that had already faded to mild irritation. She was still letting him stew, though. He needed to understand why what he had done was wrong. Until then, well, she hoped he would figure it out soon. She wasn't sleeping very well. It was odd, how quickly a person could become accustomed to something that they had gone without for so long. It wasn't the sex. That was plenty enjoyable, but she pushed those thoughts aside immediately. It was the warm body that she could curl against in the middle of the night, and the soft sound of his snoring to fill the silence. It was how he hissed at her and rolled his eyes when her cold feet slid along his calves, and then just pulled her closer and tucked her against him. It was his arm draped across her waist and the way his thumb would stroke her hip in a lazy caress.

She had slept alone for years, and on those occasions when she had allowed Jack into her bed his presence had felt like an intrusion. She truly began to think that she was happier alone. Then there was Andy, and at first she worried how they would fit together, the loners that they were. Now the longer they were together, the more the moments when they were apart seemed to stand out. Sleeping next to him most every night meant that she was used to the sounds that he made and the way he moved. She knew how the bed felt if he was just rolling over, or if he was getting out of it. She could tell by the way the air in the room shifted as he walked through it if he was going to the bathroom or stepping out into the hall.

As a sudden thought occurred to her, Sharon turned away from the murder board. Her gaze drifted across the room. She wasn't really focused on any one point. Her mind was moving, connecting points and searching for details. She placed her teacup on an empty desk and strode over to retrieve the copy of the case file that was being kept on Lieutenant Provenza's desk.

"What?" Andy had been watching her closely enough to see when the light bulb had gone off. It was always such a treasure, watching that moment of realization. Her eyes would light up, and then he could almost see the wheels in her head turn faster, gaining speed as she moved from one thought to another.

"Did we have a tox screen on the wife?" Sharon flipped through the file looking for the report summary from Doctor Morales. "Martin Hollings mentioned that he took an Ambien before going to bed. His tox screen and the prescriptions in the bathroom supported that fact. Did Sue Hollings take anything before bed? Or is it possible that he slipped her something?"

"Possible." Andy shrugged. "If he did, Morales noted it. It wasn't cause of death, though. Why?" His brows drew together while he watched her. What was she thinking? Something about that caught her attention.

"Sue and Martin Hollings were married for over thirty years," Sharon explained. "When you are with a partner for a significant length of time you learn their habits," she said. "It becomes second nature. I cannot imagine that Mr. Hollings had a lot of time, after he left the bed, to stage the scene before Mrs. Hollings might have awakened and wondered what was going on." She found the page that she was looking for and read through it quickly. There was no alcohol in her system, and the tox screen had not specifically checked for Ambien. He wouldn't have, not with the gunshot being the apparent cause of death. Her lips pursed as she tossed the file aside. Sharon picked up another report; this one contained the findings from SID. She went directly to the notes on the trajectory of the entry wound, backed up by Morales's findings. "We don't know if she was drugged, but SID determined that she was lying down."

"You don't sound convinced, Captain?" Amy leaned forward against her desk.

"It seems odd that Mister Hollings was able to stage the scene as he did while his wife was still asleep, Amy." Her head tilted in thought. "The fact that it _is_ so odd may be why we can't seem to prove it." She closed the file again and tapped the edge of it against her palm while her mind worked over the details of the case. "Aside, of course, from the appalling lack of evidence," she added, before Provenza could do more than open his mouth. She watched him settle back to scowl at her and fought the urge to smile. Yes, even when it was a work partner, individuals became accustomed to the habits of others when enough time was spent together. Sharon continued to consider her options. Standing around and doing nothing wasn't an option, but there appeared to be little else to do. Amy was still staring at her, and Sharon met the younger woman's gaze. Her eyes narrowed in thought for a moment before she walked around to stand beside her. "Amy, I'd like you to go down to SID and bring back these items." As she spoke, Sharon bent over the Detective's desk and quickly jotted down a list.

Amy watched as it came together. Her brows drew together in a frown. "Really?" She didn't understand what purpose it would serve. "A ballistics mannequin and a trajectory kit?" That was certainly new, at least for the Captain.

"Yes." Sharon turned her head and focused on Andy for a moment. "If you had to guess, what kind of gun would you say those parts came from?"

He lifted the bag and turned it over in his hand. "Looks like a run of the mill .9 mil Beretta, but that will never stand up in court."

"I don't really need it to." Sharon added that gun to the list. She knew that SID kept a stock for testing purposes. "If they don't have a Beretta," she told the Detective, "have them send up an equivalent."

"Okay." Amy was still unsure of where the Captain was going with all of it. The Murder Room was no place for a ballistics test.

"Just testing a theory," Sharon told her. "It won't be that involved. The clock is ticking, Amy."

"Yes Captain." She took her jacket from her chair as she stood and left the Murder Room with the Captain's list.

"What are you up to?" Andy was watching Sharon now. His hands were shoved into his pockets. His head tilted thoughtfully.

"I'm trying to find a way to prove that Martin Hollings shot his wife, without having a murder weapon on hand." She shrugged. "If we can prove that he staged the scene, planned his interview, and had enough time to take apart the murder weapon then maybe, just maybe, we have enough to continue holding him through our morning deadline. We need to find the rest of that gun, and it's not going to happen before nine. It's time for a contingency plan."

"Contingency plan!" Without turning away from his computer, Tao lifted a hand into the air. "That is on the list."

Provenza pulled out his top drawer and consulted the note that was taped to the inside of it. "Item number four, Contingency Plan," he agreed. "It is indeed on the list." He pointed his pencil at the Captain. "You have a list violation."

In the business of solving murders there was very little that could, or should, lighten a mood at any given moment. They couldn't always be cloaked in the darkness of their work; they had to find the light when it presented itself. Over the years her team had put together a list of all the things that she was _not_ allowed to say, based upon the eventual fallout of such statements. Sharon sighed. They were right. It was on the list, although she thought it was further down. At least she had not managed a List 1 violation, at least not yet. The first thing on the list that she was never allowed to say was, _You are not getting paid for your overtime_. She heaved a sigh as they stared, rather triumphantly, at her. "Yes. Okay." She waved her hands at then and feigned exasperation. "The next coffee run is on me. Keep working. We don't have much time left, people."

"Don't be testy." Provenza dangled the note at her. "Rules are rules." He smiled widely, even when her eyes narrowed. He had been saving that one up for _years_.

"Hm." Her lips pursed. Sharon smiled serenely back at him. "Indeed they are, Lieutenant." She turned on her heel and strode to her office. "Indeed they are," she repeated, the words almost lilting behind her.

Provenza's smile slowly fell. "She takes all the fun out of everything," he muttered. He was going to pay for that. Maybe not tonight, maybe not even that week, but he would pay. As patient as he had been waiting for his moment she had ten times that amount of patience. She would wait until he forgot. Then she would get him. He made a mental note to begin taking pictures of his desk before he left each night.

Andy snorted quietly. He shook his head as he returned to his desk. The crooked grin that curved his lips could not be suppressed. He might not have a lot of room to gloat at present, but that wasn't going to stop him from enjoying his partner's plight. He sat down on the edge of his desk and folded his arms across his chest. "Hollings is loaded, but what about debts? Life insurance? Do we have any other motive besides the fact that he wanted his wife gone? Affairs? Family secrets."

"What am I? A mind reader?" Provenza held out the case file. "Knock yourself out."

He rolled his eyes but walked over to take the file. "I could answer that, but like I keep telling you, the Captain doesn't like it when I use that kind of language near the kid."

Provenza made a face at him. He waited until his partner had opened the file before saying, "I wouldn't read too far, Robbery Homicide didn't do a lot of field work. Once they had the confession they called it a day."

Julio chuckled. He glanced up when Flynn slapped the file closed in frustration. "I wouldn't hit him with it either. She frowns on violence too."

Flynn settled for grunting in annoyance and shooting a dark look at his partner. He sat down behind his desk and pulled over the forms that he needed to fill out before sending the gun pieces and shell casings down to SID. Before doing that he slipped his cell phone out of his pocket and sent a quick message. _Are you okay?_ Whatever facade she might like to put on it, he could tell that having her life put on display, especially as it pertained to her marriage, bothered her. Even if her team wasn't currently digging through that history, the fact that their suspect had looked would be unnerving.

His phone vibrated a moment later with the response. _I am perfectly fine, thank you._ Even her text messages were stilted and polite. Andy glowered at it. He shot an annoyed look over his shoulder, through the window of her office. She was bent over a stack of paperwork. She wasn't letting him off the hook at all, not even to check on her. That only further piqued his irritation.

Andy tapped the end of his pen against the desk. He stared at the forms in front of him, but without really seeing them. The words were just marks on the page. They could have been inkblots for all the attention that he paid to them. He was really trying to think through his annoyance, but the longer he sat there, the more aggravated he became. Her response reminded him of the icy way in which she had greeted his confrontation with her ex-husband. It wasn't as if he had gone out seeking the man. Jack had come to them. He was belligerent and out of line. Not once had he told her, or even insinuated that she couldn't handle it, couldn't handle Jack of all people. God only knew she had enough experience at it. That wasn't the point at all. It was that she didn't _need_ to handle it by herself anymore. Couldn't she just let him have this one thing? Concede this one point, and acknowledge that maybe, just maybe, she wasn't alone anymore.

So here he was, relegated to the doghouse, sent home and told that she didn't want to speak to him again until he thought about his behavior and why it was inappropriate. Like he was some kind of twelve year old that she could sit in the corner in timeout until she decided that he had been punished enough. Andy picked up his phone again and quickly typed out a response. He would like to wait until they were done, confront her himself, but it didn't look like they were getting out of there anytime soon and he didn't think this one was going to wait. _I'm calling crap on that_.

 _Get back to work. We can discuss it later_. Her response was immediate.

 _You mean you're actually talking to me now_.

 _No. I am not going to fight with you at work. You are obviously spoiling for one. We can fight later_.

Andy cast another look over his shoulder, this time to glare at her. He found her looking back and his irritation was reflected in her gaze. She arched a brow at him and her head tilted. There was a warning in that look. She was not going to engage him on this playing field, but she would engage him. His eyes narrowed. Andy turned back to his phone to respond. _Fine. But it's my turn to win_.

 _I am delighted that you have dreams, but you should not spend so much time with your head in the clouds. Not happening_.

It was like turning off a switch. His irritation faded. He snorted quietly and twisted in his chair again. She wasn't looking at him, her attention was on the paperwork in front of her, but her lips were turned up in a pleased little smirk. God almighty but the woman was infuriating and damn if he didn't love her anyway. He shook his head and turned back around. He didn't respond again, but instead turned his attention back on the forms in front of him.

Half an hour after she went on her errand for the Captain Amy was back. She came into the Murder Room carrying a box while a uniformed officer trailed along behind her carrying the dummy. She had him put it on the empty desk near hers and thanked him before dismissing him. Amy placed the box on her own desk and walked over to knock on the Captain's door. "I have everything, Captain. Sergeant Donaldson asked me to remind you what happened _last time_."

Sharon flashed a wide smile. She laughed quietly as she rose and shook her head at the questioning look on the younger woman's face. "There was a bit of a mishap regarding a dummy, some blood splatter, and a misunderstanding with one of my children." Sharon moved past her at the door. "It was several years ago, naturally Jacob would remember. I was working an FID case," she explained, "and the blood splatter was not consistent with the bullet trajectory. SID was backed up with a case from Major Crimes..." Sharon rolled her eyes. "So we set up to do our own preliminary testing downstairs. We couldn't go to court with it, or disciplinary committee, but we didn't have to stall our investigation."

"I would like to point out," Provenza said, without bothering to look up from his desk, "that you don't seem to mind stalling other divisions investigations now that you're one of us."

"Of course not, Lieutenant." Sharon smirked. "Do I really have to remind you how things are supposed to work around here?"

Provenza snorted quietly. No she did not, but as long as she remembered that her attitude hadn't changed much, he was just fine. She must go first. At least it was benefiting _them_ now, and he supposed that was the part that really mattered. Not that they ever really had any problem going first before. He'd save that for reminding her another time.

Amy looked between the two of them and decided that she didn't want to get involved. Her attention shifted back to the Captain. "So what happened with your investigation?"

"Oh." Sharon sighed. "We managed to get everything laid out according to the crime scene photos. Then Emily walked in. Apparently it looked as if we had just slaughtered some poor man." She waved a hand and rolled her eyes. "It was an interesting encounter, we'll leave it at that."

"Ah." Amy nodded. "Probably best."

"Hm." Sharon retrieved a copy of the case file, the one that contained the crime scene pictures, and carried it to the desk where the dummy waited. She laid out the ones that depicted how Sue Hollings had been found. Then she straightened the dummy and arranged it in the same position. Sharon opened the autopsy report and ready Doctor Morales's findings. While she did, she was aware of the others watching her. She ignored them and pulled the box that Amy had brought over. She lifted the lid off of it and began removing items. The trajectory beams were first. Based on Morales's findings, she arranged one to show the single gunshot to the head. Then she rearranged the body based on how the victim would have needed to be laying when the shot was fired.

Sharon's lips pursed while she studied that. "Based on the angle of the shot, Mrs. Hollings was definitely lying prone when it happened. Her head was turned away. That she was awake when she was shot is really questionable."

Mike glanced over. "Meaning he would have needed to get up, take off the clothes that he went to bed in, and lay them out on the mattress beside her."

"Yes," Sharon agreed. "He retrieved his gun, shot his wife, and then he had to shower, get dressed, take the gun apart and hide the pieces." Her lips pursed. "Although, there was no trace of gunshot residue on him or his clothing, so it is far more likely that he took the gun apart and then he showered."

"SID turned that house over, there were no other clothes found with splatter on them," Julio pointed out. "The guy had to stand there, naked, after he shot his wife."

"Yes." Sharon looked at the file again. "What kind of timeframe did Morales give us?"

"Based on cooling and the way the blood was already starting to dry when paramedics arrived," Mike checked his own notes. "About half an hour from the time that she was shot until they arrived. Forty-five minutes at the outset."

"It took them six minutes to get there," Julio said. "So twenty-five to thirty-five minutes from shooting his wife he had to take the gun apart and jump in the shower."

"Okay." Sharon reached into the box. SID had sent up a small .9mm Beretta as requested. She stood at the end of the desk with it in her hands and weighted it. "Amy, start the clock. Let's see how long it takes to break this down to its smallest parts." Not just to clean it, Sharon could do that with her eyes closed. No, Martin Hollings had gone well beyond that.

Amy pulled her phone out and set the stopwatch application. She held up a finger and then nodded. "Go."

While the team looked on Sharon began to quickly pull the Beretta part. She pulled the clip and slipped the slide. From there she began breaking it down even further. She identified the pieces they had found and placed those aside. Sharon broke the gun down as far as she could go. When she was finished, there were several parts laid out on the desk. She lifted her hands and looked at Amy. "Time?"

"Eleven minutes."

Julio stood up and walked over to write that down. "Then he had to hide the parts." He indicated where they had found them. "Maybe another five minutes, tops. So let's say sixteen minutes to get rid of his evidence. Then he got in the shower. It doesn't take long to do a quick scrub down."

"Another five minutes," Sharon suggested. "Then he got dressed, in the same clothes that he laid beside his wife before he shot her. After he placed the call to 9-1-1 he had plenty of time to disturb the body and make it look as if he had tried to help her."

"It fits." Andy agreed. "He did it. He staged the scene, and he prepped his interview. The only thing he wasn't counting on was us having another case at the time. But he took care of that too by making Robbery Homicide look like the imbeciles that they are."

"Yes." Sharon sighed and turned back to the murder board. "But we still only have a few hours and no actual proof."

"So what do you want to do?" Provenza asked. It was the question that was burning on all of their minds.

"We'll roll the dice with Hobbs," Sharon said, "and see where they land. In the meantime, get SID back to that house. Get those shell cases to the print lab. I want to know if he touched them. Everything we have, alone, is circumstantial at best. Together..." She shrugged. "It may be enough for a judge to concede that Martin Hollings should remain where he is."

"Or we let him out." Andy folded his arms over his chest. "Put a couple of guys on him. Let him lead us to the rest of it."

"It may come to that," Sharon acknowledged. "Right now, I'd rather take the safer route. I'll bet on Hobbs first." They just had to hope that the DDA could pull another rabbit out of her proverbial hat.

 **-TBC-**


	7. Chapter 7

**Leaping In**

 **by Kadi**

 **Rated T**

 **Disclaimer:** This is not my sandbox, this is just my favorite place to play. I promise to put all of the toys back when I'm done.

 **A/N:** As you read this, you may recall my note from Chapter 3. This was written a while ago... but I wasn't going to tell you. No spoilers! Thanks again everyone who is reading. Enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter 7**

It was nearing midnight before any of them were able to make their way home. Hobbs was not hopeful, but she would take what they had before the judge the next morning and do her best with it. She would like to have had more, but so would all of them.

Andy had not been long in his bed when he felt the mattress beside him dip. He was hovering in that space, just before sleep, and wondered that he was already beginning to dream. He had been sleeping alone for several days now, and when Sharon left the Murder Room ahead of him with Rusty, he had not expected that would change anytime soon.

She didn't say anything, and he didn't really have to question _who_ was climbing into his bed. The familiar scent of her perfume had already reached his nose, and besides which, there was no one else that would dare. There was no one else _to_ dare. Andy waited, but the bed shifted again only once, as she got comfortable on her side. She didn't touch him, and she still didn't speak. He was lying on his side, facing the wall, but lifted his head and craned it toward her. "I thought I was in trouble?"

Sharon sighed softly. There was just enough humor in his statement to take the sting out of the brooding tone. "You are." She turned her face into the pillow beneath her, but that couldn't stop her lips from curving into a smile. The truth was that she had missed him, and in punishing him, she was really punishing herself too. The thought of sleeping alone, for even one more night, had left her feeling sad and just a little bit restless.

"Thought you were going home?" He rolled onto his back and continued to stare at the back of her head. Light from the window just barely illuminated the room enough that he could make out the pale glow of her shoulders. She had changed before getting into bed; the nightgown that she was wearing was one that she left the last time she was there with him.

"I did." She lifted her shoulder in a small shrug. "We dropped Buzz off and then I took Rusty home. Then I came here," she added, in a much quieter voice.

He watched her grow still and knew that she was waiting. He sighed quietly and rolled onto his side again, this time to face her. His arm snaked out and curled around her waist. He drew her to him and tucked her against his chest. Andy hissed when her legs curled and she settled her feet against his calves. They were always so damned cold. When her arms came up to wrap around his and hold him closer, he dropped a kiss to her shoulder. "Missed you," he mumbled.

She hummed quietly. "Me too." Sharon was already starting to warm, and already feeling much better. She drew a breath and let it out slowly. "I do not need a white knight," she whispered.

"I know." Andy settled down behind her. His fingers stroked a lazy pattern against her stomach. "That wasn't the point." Because he didn't want to fight with her again, he didn't go any farther with it than that.

Sharon sighed again. "I know." He would do it again. It was going to irritate her to no end. That was just the way that he was. She couldn't change him. She didn't _want_ to change him. She loved him, even when he was infuriating. She ran her foot along his calf and smiled when he grumbled. Sharon snuggled further into him and let her eyes close. Already she was resting better than she had in days. She felt his lips touch her shoulder again and turned her face toward him. The kiss was light, almost chaste before she lay her head down again.

When Sharon woke again, some hours later, it was to the sound of Andy's alarm. She rolled, but found the space beside her empty. That wasn't altogether unusual. He could be an early riser. She lay there for a few moments listening to the sounds inside the house. It was oddly devoid. Usually if he was already up, he was in the shower, or making breakfast. She heard neither of those things.

Sharon rose and made her way through the house. It was still dark. The kitchen was empty, as had been the bathroom. She peeked outside, but found that her car now sat alone in his driveway. A frown drew her brows together. If they had been called out he would have let her know before he left, and Lieutenant Provenza would have called her.

She walked back through the house and found her phone where she had left it, plugged into the extra charger on his dresser. There were no missed calls. She did find a text, simple and without much explanation.

 _Had to go out. I'll talk to you soon._

Sharon hummed thoughtfully as she replaced the phone. It was odd, but not overly concerning. She went through her morning routine and decided that she would save whatever questions she had for later. Sharon locked up the house and left it as she found it. There wasn't a lot of time for her to ponder the peculiarities of her lover leaving in the middle of the night. She needed to meet DDA Hobbs and Chief Taylor in court. They were going to be presenting their depressing lack of evidence to Judge Grove. Sharon was hoping for the best, but like Hobbs, she expected him to toss them out of his courtroom. He was going to want more than what they had, but there was no more to be found, not for lack of trying, though.

When Sharon eventually made it to the Murder Room, nearing mid-morning, she expected to see Andy there. His desk stood empty and undisturbed, just as he had left it the night before. Sharon filed that thought away for later and walked over to the Murder Board. She studied it for a moment before she sighed. Her shoulders slumped, only a fraction, and she began to erase all of the notes that they made.

"Didn't go well?" Provenza turned in his chair to watch her.

"I'm afraid not." Sharon dropped the eraser and turned. "Martin Hollings is being released. Judge Grove ruled that the evidence we have is not conclusive enough to go to trial. He is being processed out of holding as we speak."

"So that's it?" Julio leaned forward in his chair. "We're calling it over? Do we want to put a couple of guys on him, see if he leads us to the evidence?"

"No." Sharon shook her head and smiled sadly. "Given the circumstances surrounding his arrest, and that he is still discussing filing a law suit, the Department has decided not to push its luck at this time. We will have to find another way. Until then, Major Crimes has been instructed to return to our previous case load."

"In the meantime, the Hollings murder goes in our open cases." Provenza rolled his eyes. "How did I know that would happen? They gave us eighteen hours to clean up someone else's mess, then we get to eat it against our close rate."

Sharon hummed quietly. She could not disagree with that. Instead she took a step closer to his desk and jerked her head toward the empty one near her office. "Lieutenant?"

Provenza glanced over at his partner's desk, and then he shrugged at her. "He called earlier, said he couldn't make it. He was going to be tied up with something." Actually he hadn't so much called as Provenza had found that message on his voicemail when he arrived that morning. Flynn had not answered when he tried to call him; honestly he had been planning to ask the Captain. He squinted up at her now. She seemed as confused as he was. "Want me to call him?"

She thought about it. He had followed procedure by informing Provenza of his absence, and he told her that they would talk later. While it concerned her that he had not mentioned missing work, hunting him down in the middle of the day might be stepping over the line. "No," she said finally. "I'm sure that one of us will talk to him later."

"Probably." Provenza tilted his head at her. That was her way of procuring his agreement to tell her if his partner called again. He knew she would do likewise. "So, Hollings?"

"Not our problem at the moment." Sharon strode toward her office. "However, Lieutenant, if you find a way to properly express our gratitude to Robbery Homicide, do let me know."

The look she cast back at him made him grin. Provenza nodded. "Absolutely, Captain. I'll start making a list right now."

"Excellent. I look forward to reading it." She smirked at him before closing the door to her office.

A few hours later when her door opened again, Sharon was lost in a world of time sheets and overtime expenses. She barely registered the sound of the door opening, but the strong scent of garlic and basil reached her nose. Her stomach growled in response. She looked up and her surprised expression gave way to a warm smile. "Hey you."

"Hey." Emily stepped into the office and held up the bag she was carrying. "I brought lunch. Have you eaten yet?"

"No, actually." Sharon closed the files on her desk and placed them aside. "I think I adore you."

Emily laughed. "Well let me know when you decide." She walked over and placed the bag on the desk. She took out two containers of pasta and set them on her mother's desk, along with a couple of salads. A knock at the door had Emily walking over before her mother could answer the summons. She pulled it open and took the two bottles of water that Buzz held.

Sharon's brows arched as he moved on without speaking. Her lips pursed. She waited until Emily was settled in front of her, in a chair on the other side of the desk before allowing her head to tilt in askance. "Not spending your lunch break with Buzz?"

"No." Emily fought the urge to smile. "I see him all the time. I'm spending it with you." She lifted the top off of her salad. "Don't look at me with that tone of voice," she said, without even meeting her mother's knowing gaze.

"Hm." Sharon studied her pasta for a moment before digging in to the lobster ravioli. "Fair enough. Tell me what I want to know and I won't have to."

Emily looked up. She rolled her eyes at the smirk that was now curving her mother's lips upward. "You're not even trying to not be obvious. You used to be better at this."

Her brows lifted again, but Sharon's eyes sparkled with humor. "Perhaps I've simply decided that a more direct approach is both more timely and… more amusing. Speak." When her daughter simply took another bite, her eyes narrowed. "Emily Ann."

She sighed, rather loudly. Emily reached for her bottle of water. "How do you stand it?" She waved her hand in a circle, indicating the office around them. "All of this. Being around cops all day, getting close to them, dealing with that… dating one," she added, because she didn't feel like having it dragged out of her.

"Oh." She sat her fork down and rested her chin in her hand. "I see." That hadn't taken very long at all. Sharon studied her daughter closely. "Which part is it, exactly, that you want to know about? The long hours? The unexpected schedule changes? Emily, I would think that you were already more than familiar with both of those things."

"Yes." She nodded slowly. "Those are fine. I grew up with that. Things happen, and we learn to be flexible. Not everything can be exactly as we want it to be." She shrugged. "It makes the moments that are as we planned that much better. No, I'm talking about the rest." Emily pushed her salad around in its bowl. "The fear."

"Hm." Sharon hummed. So they got to it rather quickly. She wondered if that might be it. She thought for a moment. Buzz had ridden out a few nights before and if she didn't miss her guess, he was scheduled to do another ride along that evening. "That part never gets easier. You simply learn to accept it as a part of your relationship."

"I suppose." Her head inclined. Emily shrugged. "I thought I was used to that part too. It was different when we were younger. I don't think that I ever really put it all together before. I thought it was going to be the same thing." She sighed. Emily offered a sheepish smile. "That was before I was up all night waiting for him to get home. Now I'm wondering what I'm getting myself into."

"Have you spoken to _him_ about this?" Sharon lifted her fork again. "Emily, this is really a conversation that you should probably be having with Buzz." The oddity of saying those words was not lost on her, but Sharon pushed it aside. "If the reality of your relationship is weighing too heavily on you, then you really need to talk about it."

"No. It's not." Emily shook her head. "I don't think it is. I haven't changed my mind. I just don't know how best to cope with all of it. Having a mother for a police officer is a lot different than having a boyfriend who wants to be one. Besides, by the time I was old enough to understand what your job was, you were already with Internal Affairs. He's patrolling the streets. It's a little different."

"Is it?" Sharon sat back in her chair with a smile. She could tell her daughter the number of times that she had been shot at during her years with FID but she didn't want to unduly frighten her. Instead, she just offered a small, delicate shrug. "Emily, I know that it seemed different, and that was the point. That was what I wanted you to think, but it really wasn't. My reality was not much different then and it is not that different now. Yes, it's true; he may leave and not come home. That is a risk that we all take. It is a sacrifice that we all have to ask our families to accept. It is a fact that I remind myself of every day when I tell your brother good-bye in the morning. It is a thought that crosses my mind every time that I send my team into the field. What you have to ask yourself is if that sacrifice is worth all of the moments that may come before it. You have to question whether or not you are willing to walk away from what may never happen, and lose all of the things that you could have, for the sake of playing it safe."

Emily contemplated her salad for another moment before looking up at her mother through her lashes. "Is that what you tell yourself about Andy?"

Her gaze shifted. Sharon stared at nothing while she thought about that. "Honestly, Emily, I think my situation is completely different. I know what can go wrong, but I also know what can go right. That doesn't make me worry any less, but I am part of this life too. My concerns are his. We share them." Sharon shook her head. She looked at her daughter again and gave her a gentle smile. "Honestly, darling, I may not be the one that you need to talk to about this. I cannot look at it from your perspective…" She trailed off for just a moment, and then said words she never imagined would pass her lips. "But your father can. He may be the one that you need to ask." She shrugged. "He didn't leave me because of my job. Our relationship fell apart because of his addiction, but before that happened, we were happy. Very happy, actually; your father and I had some good years together, and during that time he had to cope with having a wife that was in law enforcement."

Her eyes had widened. Emily shook her head. "You're sending me to dad? For advice? On relationships?"

"Hm." Sharon nodded. "It looks that way, doesn't it?" She was fully aware of just how… odd that sounded. "Keep him on topic, and I'm sure that it will be fine. In the meantime, what I can tell you is this. If you love him, then you are going to have to love everything about him. That means supporting his dreams, even when they terrify you."

"Or if they keep us miles apart?" Emily gave a wan smile. She was not unaware of the challenges that lay ahead of them, especially when her career would be taking her back to New York in a few weeks.

"Didn't you tell me that this was your opportunity to determine what this relationship actually meant to both of you?" Sharon reached for her water bottle. "Focus on that, at least for now. The hard decisions will come later. There will be a time to discuss them, but do not let them color your experience before it has even really started."

Emily smiled brightly. "You know, I may not need to talk to dad at all." She pointed her fork at her mother. "You still give the best advice in town."

Sharon smiled brightly. "I do, don't I?"

She laughed. "Yes, and I'm so glad that you know it too."

"Well," she beamed, "when I'm good." Sharon placed the water back on her desk and studied her daughter for a moment. "I have a question. I haven't brought this one up yet, but I wonder if it is something that the two of you have considered." When she had her daughter's attention, Sharon leaned forward. "The age difference. There is at least ten years there."

"Just over." Emily shrugged. "We have, actually. It bothered him, at first. I think it still does a little. I've dated men my own age, and there seems to be a similar problem among all of them. They just aren't willing to accept the compromise that both of our careers can be important. Or they haven't decided what to do with their lives yet. I'm not saying that all men my age have that problem, but the ones that I've met do. I did think about it," she explained, "when that topic came up between us. Sooner or later he may want things that I'm not be ready for. In the end…" Her gaze drifted as she smiled. "I don't know, we just clicked. I can laugh with him, you know? He can be so ridiculously good sometimes that I think he needs someone who can shake him up a little."

"Ah!" Sharon pointed a finger at her daughter. "Not too much shaking. I like that about him." Her head tilted while she considered what Emily was saying. The age difference concerned her, for just the reasons that Emily mentioned. Her daughter was turning thirty soon. In many ways her life was still just starting, but she supposed in others she was becoming well grounded. "Emily…" Sharon sighed. "I am not going to tell you who you can and cannot date. I like Buzz. I really do, he really is one of the good ones. I'm just not completely convinced that I like him with _you_."

"I know." Emily looked down. There was a soft smile tugging one corner of her mouth upward. "I love you for letting me figure this out on my own. It may not work. Or it might. Like we said, this is our chance to figure that out. For all we know we'll find that we're better off as friends. There is just something there, though. I can't explain it. I'm nuts about him."

"I want you to be happy," Sharon said. "That is my one, truest wish for you. If this makes you happy…" As unsettled as she still was about it, her daughter was well beyond needing her to intervene in her life.

"I am happy. I am!" Emily laughed. "I'm dancing like crazy right now, and there are all these things happening in my career. There's a guy that I really care about, and I want to see where that goes. I'm good, mom, I promise."

"Okay." Sharon resolved to let it go, at least for now. It was a topic that she would reserve the right to revisit at a later time. For the time being, she would talk to her daughter about lighter, happier topics.

It was well after Emily had gone that Sharon found herself standing in the Major Crimes break room. Her head was tilted while she gazed at a spot on the counter. There was a cup of tea before her, and her mind was lost in thought as she waited for the teabag to finish steeping. She was thinking about Andy again. The day was more than half over and still she had not heard from him. That wasn't like him. She was worried about him, but each time that she was tempted to reach out she refrained. She was caught in a place between wanting him to know that she trusted him and being deeply concerned.

Sharon kept reminding herself that he would come to her when he was ready. Whatever had called him away that morning could not keep him away indefinitely. Very soon she was sure that she would hear from him and there would be some explanation for his absence. That did not stop the worry, but they were neither of them in need of a protector. Relationships were a matter of give and take, and sometimes they required just the patience of waiting.

As she thought of that her mind took her back over the conversation with Emily. Sharon sighed quietly. The entire situation was still unsettling to her. Her daughter was only a few months shy of her thirtieth birthday, and would be ending the year after that particular milestone. It was one that made her feel quite old herself. Sharon could not help but feeling that, despite Emily's age and apparent maturity, she should involve herself more. The problem was that her daughter was a little bit beyond being told by her mother who she should and should not be dating.

The completely honest truth was that Emily could do much worse than who she was seeing currently. She could meet someone like any number of the suspects that Sharon had encountered during her career, or worse. There were those too who seemed completely innocuous at first. Men like her father with big dreams and a charming personality to sweep her off her feet and then change, dashing those dreams and breaking her heart before she could even see it coming. No, as far as choices were concerned Emily had not made a _bad one_. Sharon just was not convinced that she had made a very _good one_.

It was a difficult position that she found herself in. Emily was dating someone that she knew, and liked quite a lot. She wondered if her daughter were older, or her partner younger, would she have the same reservations? She supposed in the grand scheme of things that an almost eleven year age gap was not the worst thing that Emily could be facing at present, but it was concerning. At the same time she reminded herself that Emily was no longer a child, or even a young twenty-something. It wasn't as if Emily was new to the dating world, or entirely inexperienced, although as a mother those were _not_ things that she wanted to be thinking about. The fact still remained. Her daughter was an adult now and her life was hers to experience and live as she saw fit. That included any mistakes that she might make along the way. She could offer her opinion on the matter, advise and try to guide, but her children did not have to listen to it.

Had she not had this very conversation with Rusty not so long ago? He was attracted to a young man much older than she thought appropriate. Those feelings had, thankfully, not been returned. She was relieved to see that situation end quickly although she had ached at his bruised feelings. Those two things were not entirely the same though, and Sharon had to acknowledge that. Rusty was barely a child, much younger than his sister. While he might have life experiences that no boy his age, or any age for that matter, should ever imagine, much less experience, he was not Emily. Her daughter had been living on her own on the other side of the continent for several years now, without her mother there to keep a watchful eye on her activities.

It was a terrifying thought, as a parent, that they could only teach their children how to live their lives. They could not guarantee how they would go about it. There was a sense of accomplishment there too, however, that her daughter felt confident enough in the person that she was becoming to spread her wings as she was.

The entire situation came down to a single, undeniable thought. Emily was not a child, even if she was still _her_ child.

Sharon had only just resolved to try and accept that when the break room door open. She lifted her tea and turned, and found herself in that awkward moment that she had been dreading since that Sunday morning in her condo a couple of weeks before. He had managed, somehow, to avoid being alone with her. Sharon had to wonder that she hadn't assisted in that activity.

They stared at one another and she could see that he was tempted to step out of the room again. She sighed quietly and shook her head at him. There was a small, amused smile playing at her lips. "It will never work if you keep running away from me."

His eyes widened immediately. Buzz immediately began to protest, but he still had one hand on the door. "I'm not..." Her arched brow drew a sigh. "Okay, I am," he admitted reluctantly. It was an incredibly odd moment, and one that he tried very much to avoid, even before the relationship with Emily began to take off as it had. Buzz allowed the door to close behind him as he crossed the break room. He had come for coffee and very much felt the need for that now, and maybe even something a little stronger. "It must be safe if you're not armed," he quipped.

"Ha!" She laughed suddenly and shook her head at him. Sharon leaned back against the counter and kept her teacup cradled in her hands. "You have been spending too much time with Rusty if you need me to define _safe_ for you." Sharon inclined her head at him again. Her eyes were sparkling and it took some of the bite out of her tone when she asked, "Am I going to have to ask you what you were thinking?"

He looked at the floor in front of him while slowly stirring his coffee. "That sometimes friendships evolve without much effort or realization until you are faced with the end product. Is that really something that I have to explain to _you_?"

Her lips pursed. He could be rather cheeky when properly motivated. "Touché." Sharon pushed away from the counter and walked over to take a seat at one of the tables. "It is not that I am opposed to _you_ , but…"

"She's too young." That was the argument that he was expecting. It was the thought that he had struggled with most. "I know. We have talked about that at length. She refuses to be limited to an age group." Emily was rather opinionated and independent in her thought processes. He could point out that he knew where she had learned that, but didn't think it appropriate. "Honestly, until a few months ago, we were only friends."

She set the tea on the table and studied the contents of her cup while she thought about that. Sharon looked up at him after a moment and offered a delicate shrug. "Yes. I know how that can change. You don't have to point it out again. So what happened?"

"To be honest? It wasn't meant to change at all. It was a joke." Buzz rolled his eyes at her. "Our first date. It wasn't meant to be serious at all. It was just a joke."

Her brows drew together in a puzzled frown. "I'm not sure that I understand. Maybe you should explain that one."

It was hard to really describe without telling her how it began. Buzz shrugged as he leaned against the cabinet. "Well, as previously mentioned to the others, I used to subscribe to a few dating websites." He shifted uncomfortably as he spoke. "According to Emily, there was nothing obviously wrong with me, but I must be deficient in some way if I was still single. Or I was doing something wrong. She decided that she was going to figure out what and told me that I was going to take her out so that she could." He offered a lopsided, if sheepish grin. "I guess something just clicked."

"Clicked." That was Emily's choice of word too. "Hm." Sharon shook her head. After a moment she looked down. Her shoulders shook with laughter. "My god, she is my daughter." It was an incredibly familiar story.

His brows rose. "I don't understand?" He didn't usually find much in their personalities to compare. Emily seemed far more free spirited. Open. Emotional. She was very much an artist, where her mother was analytical.

Sharon rolled her eyes. "It's a long story." Not one that she could believe that she was about to tell. She leaned forward and rested her elbows against the table. "My first date with Jack was actually very similar. It was basically a dare. I never had any intention of going out with him." As she spoke, Sharon shook her head. "My roommate dated him, actually, very briefly. She had some critical things to say about a technique or two." When his head inclined, Sharon groaned. "Apparently he kissed like a fish." She pointed a finger at him. "You do not repeat this story to Emily. Or Rusty. Actually, forget I'm telling you at all. Needless to say, I did not believe her. He was a fairly popular guy. Good looking. I thought she was just… feeling discarded. I didn't know that _she_ had broken up with _him_." Sharon rubbed her lips together. "So she dared me to go out with him, find out for myself. I wasn't going to do it, but somehow it all got back to him. His ego was bruised. We went out and… Something just clicked." She rolled her eyes again and gave a small shake of her head. "At least for a time. I was just a sophomore in college. We dated until I graduated, and then we got married. The rest is… in Martin Hollings's search engine," she finished dryly.

Buzz snorted quietly. "That is unfortunate." It was not a case that they would forget anytime soon. "Don't worry. I won't tell her." She didn't like to talk about her father much anyway. It was still a difficult topic for her. Emily was trying, but she was saddened and embarrassed by his behavior. "It was a surprise," he admitted. "I didn't think that I would like her at all. She is a bit of a… force."

"Oh, of that I am well aware." Sharon laughed. "Emily is… very much like her father. All of the good, but none of the bad. She is a dreamer." She looked down again and considered her next words carefully. "The thing about dreamers, though, is that they can sometimes get lost in the fantasy. I am not going to tell you what to do, and I am not going to forbid anything. That isn't the relationship that I want with any of my children. Just be mindful." Sharon stood up. She rounded the table and walked toward the door. "You are a realist. The realist and the dreamer seldom go well together. I know." She smiled sadly as she shrugged. "I married one, but you are not me and she is not her father. So I will wish you luck…" She pulled the door open but paused there for a moment. "And Buzz…" She looked back at him. "Do not ever keep something like this from me again. Okay?" She flashed a too bright smile before leaving him alone.

He collapsed back against the cabinet; the air that was in his lungs rushed out on a long sigh. That had gone better than he expected. At least, he thought, she hadn't shot him. One thing was certain. He would _not_ tell Emily about this encounter. This one would remain strictly between him and her mother. He rolled his eyes heavenward and as Tao would say, "Holy Crap."

 **-TBC-**


	8. Chapter 8

**Leaping In**

 **by Kadi**

 **Rated T**

 **Disclaimer:** This is not my sandbox, this is just my favorite place to play. I promise to put all of the toys back when I'm done.

* * *

 **Chapter 8**

What Sharon did not discuss with Emily was that sometimes the hardest parts of being in a relationship were knowing how to choose your moments wisely, and trusting unconditionally. Sharon was thinking of that when she got home that evening. She had checked her phone periodically throughout the day but had still not heard from Andy. She did trust him, completely, and without fail. That was not the crux of her problem. No, her dilemma lay in her concern for him. She was tempted to call him, but that fell under the umbrella of having to choose her moments wisely.

He told her that he would talk to her. Whatever he was dealing with today, he was obviously not ready to bring it to her yet. She had to continue to trust that he would, when he was ready. The waiting was the hard part. She couldn't sweep in and try to help him, it would be no better than what she had been angry with him about. She didn't need a protector, and neither did he. She didn't need him to stand in front of her, and she didn't want him to stand behind her. Sharon wanted him beside her. That was a situation that went both ways, however.

She would wait. He would come to her. She trusted that.

In the meantime, she spent a quiet evening distracting herself. Rusty was out with TJ, and she would have liked to know more about that little relationship, but he wasn't ready to talk yet. She wasn't going to push. He was another one that would come to her when he was ready. What Sharon did instead was call her older son, and after talking to Ricky for almost an hour, she ran herself a bath and poured a glass of wine.

Sharon soaked quietly; she let the heat and the wine lull her into a state of restful pleasure. She let her concerns about Emily, Rusty, and Andy flow away along with the tension in her body. Afterward she dressed herself in one of Andy's t-shirts and a pair of yoga pants and curled up with a cup of tea and a novel that she had been meaning to start for weeks. She was only a few chapters into the book when a quiet knock at her door disturbed her.

She had known that he would come to her; Sharon had hoped that it would be soon, but she never imagined that he would be in quite the shape that he was in. She stared at the man on the other side of her door, shocked by his disheveled appearance. His hair was ruffled, the effect of having dragged his hand through one time too many. It looked as if he had only pulled on a t-shirt and a pair of jeans before leaving his house early that morning. The shirt was wrinkled, but what struck her the most was the defeated look in his eyes. His shoulders were slumped, as though buried beneath a great weight. Sharon gasped quietly and reached out to curl her hand around his arm. "Andy." She drew him into the condo and pushed the door closed behind him. "What happened?" Her stomach twisted, clenched in anticipation of what he might say. In those moments, those few seconds while he stared at her, face seeming far more lined than it had the last time that she saw him, eyes red, and body moving with a weariness she had not witnessed in him before, Sharon reminded herself that she trusted him. She reminded herself that she loved him. She promised herself that whatever this was, he was there, and he was ready for her help.

The way that her face paled, the worry in her eyes; Andy shook his head slowly. He reached up and scrubbed his hand over his face, then pushed it into his hair. He looked away from her. Coming there was a mistake, he thought. He should have waited, but his only other option had been to go home, and he didn't want to be there. He felt like ten times an ass for putting this on her, for asking her to carry this with him. It made him feel like the worst kind of bastard; he was standing in front of a woman that he proclaimed to love, that he had run to, and he knew that her worry for him was based on her feelings for him. Andy drew a breath, he let it rattle through him, and leave on a long, weary sigh.

"It's late." His hands fell to his sides. Andy let his gaze drop and was looking anywhere but at her. "I shouldn't have come by. It can wait."

He sounded so utterly tired. There was also a note of sadness in his tone. Sharon moved a step closer. Her hand circled his wrist and while she tried to capture his gaze, her fingers moved beneath the gold chain that he always wore. Her thumb stroked in a slow, soothing pattern. "Andy," she spoke his name again. "What happened?"

"Vicki," he said finally, and felt even worse for speaking his ex-wife's name in her home when she was looking at him with such worry, and when her hand was stroking along his arm with such caring. Andy lifted his gaze to her face again. "There was an accident last night. Jeff's dead. I've been with Vicki and the kids all day."

"Oh." Whatever she expected him to say, it was not that. She didn't know the man, and had only met him on a couple of occasions, the first of which being Nicole's wedding. Her mind went immediately to Nicole and Charlie, the children that his marriage had created. She knew that they had been close to their stepfather. Now she understood why he had been absent all day, and why he had not called. They had needed their father. Sharon knew that Jeff and Andy had not been especially fond of one another, but they had tried to be civil for the kids. Jeff had also been a voice of reason when Vicki was especially upset with her ex-husband. Sharon did not always agree with the things that Vicki said or did, but she understood them. She had lived that life too. Sharon thought that she was harder on Andy than she needed to be, but then, she was a bit biased where he was concerned. She did not get involved. She was his buffer, and she was someone for him to talk to, but they had only just started to pull this relationship into each other's families. Still, when he looked at her now, she saw guilt in his expression. Sharon could imagine where his thoughts had gone. He left her lying in his bed alone while he ran to his ex-wife's side. Sharon moved even closer and slipped her arms around him. "I'm sorry," she said quietly.

"So am I." He wrapped his arms around her and held on. There was some measure of relief in that. Andy turned his face into her hair and felt like an idiot for having worried that she might be upset. Seeing what Vicki had been going through all day, it made him hold on even tighter. He didn't ever want to lose her. This was what he had really needed today. It grounded him and in ways he never imagined possible. She was warm against him, and the lingering scent of bath oil and perfume was a heady mixture. He could pick it out of a room full of women and know that it was Sharon that it belonged to.

"Come sit down." She drew him with her toward the sofa. She sat him down and joined him. She sat against his side, legs curled beneath her, and her bent knees resting atop his thigh. She draped an arm around his shoulders, the other, she let slide down his arm again. Her fingers found the gold chain once more and moved beneath it. She toyed with it as was becoming her habit. Sharon sought his gaze and tilted her head at him. "Tell me."

He laid his hand atop her knees and pulled her closer. His fingers stroked along her calves. Andy sighed quietly. "Charlie called this morning, early. Close to three, I think. Vicki and Jeff were on their way home from some gala. A driver ran the red light and t-boned them. He hit on the passenger side. Normally Jeff would have been driving, but he had a few glasses of wine. Vicki was driving instead. She's okay," he added. He looked at Sharon, and his eyes were pained. "She's got a concussion and a few scrapes and bruises, but Vicki is alright. Jeff…" He trailed off and shook his head. His mouth turned down in a grim expression. "He didn't make it out of surgery." They had both worked enough accidents in their time; he knew that he didn't have to tell her more than that.

Sharon leaned closer and cupped his chin. She looked into his eyes and shook her head. "Why didn't you call me?" She could have been with him. There was no reason at all for him to go through that alone.

Andy shrugged. "Nicole and Charlie were dealing with a lot, and Vicki… it was bad enough losing Jeff, but she lived and he didn't. She's got that guilt on top of everything else. I was just trying to pick up the slack. They had to call Jeff's son, Jake. He lives in Miami. He got here a few hours ago. His wife is coming in tomorrow with their kids. It's going to be kind of crazy for a couple of days. They're worried about their mom, and they're upset about Jeff… I told Nicole and Charlie that I would help out as much as I can. I'm just not really sure what that is." He looked at her; his hand cupped her knee. "I thought about it, calling you," he said. "But what kind of man calls his girlfriend and asks her to come over and help him deal with his ex-wife whose husband just died?"

"You do." Sharon let her fingers toy with the short, silver hairs that were barely reaching his collar. Her thumb stroked the side of his neck, and the shell of his ear. "However much the two of you fight, and whatever grief that the two of you have caused each other over the years, and no matter how angry that you can get at one another, the opposite of love is not hate, Andy. It's indifference. The one thing that you and Vicki are not, nor have ever been, is indifferent toward one another. The fact that you fight shows that you _both_ still care enough to keep at all of the issues between you. Your marriage didn't end because you stopped loving one another. It was ravaged by your addiction." Sharon knew that was hard for him to hear, but she also knew that he _needed_ to hear it. She was also very aware of the fact that he knew these things, probably better than she did. It had taken her years to come to these same conclusions about her own marriage, where Andy had been living with them for almost two decades. "You had children with that woman, honey. The two of you are always going to be connected."

Andy looked away from her again. There was still guilt gnawing at him, but mainly because he knew that what she said was true. He had held Vicki today while she grieved, and he had talked with her. He had felt the stirrings of something old, and almost long forgotten. "It's you that I love," he wasn't sure if he said it because he needed to hear it, or because deep down he thought that she did.

"I know that." Sharon bumped his shoulder with hers. "Andy, I know what we have. There is no part of me that believes that you have been pining for your ex-wife all of this time. You did what you needed to do today, and I'm sure the next few days will be very difficult. I am only sad that you felt like you had to do it alone." She stroked his arm again. Did she like the idea of him with his arms around another woman? No, but she understood it, and she could accept it. "You would not be the man that you are if you turned your back on your family when they needed you. I could not love you the way that I do if I thought that you were capable of being that callous. They needed you today, Nicole and Charlie, and Vicki. They are going to need you tomorrow, and the day after that, and so on, while they grieve and come to terms with all of this." She shook her head and smiled warmly at him. "When you left Vicki today, where did you go?"

He scrubbed a hand over his face again. Andy leaned his head back against the sofa cushions and stared at the ceiling above them. "I drove around for a while, and then I went to a meeting." When she only hummed, he slanted a look at her and sighed again. "Then I came here." He rolled his head toward her and the corner of his mouth turned up in a wry grin. "What?"

Her brow arched. She leaned over and kissed the corner of his mouth. "You came to me when you were done and that is all that I need to know. We are not kids, Andy. We have both had to learn the hard way what our relationships are worth to us, and what we have to do to hang onto them. Right now all that I am feeling is sad for Vicki, and for Jake, and Nicole and Charlie. I'm sad for you, because you are grieving for them. He was important to them, and I know that bothered you, but you never wanted Jeff to be taken from them."

"No I didn't." He hated sometimes that his kids went to that other guy when they could come to him. He hated that Jeff had been there for them when he couldn't. Mostly he just felt guilty for all of that. He hadn't hated Jeff for it, but he hadn't especially liked him either. He rubbed Sharon's leg again and arched his brows at her. "Anyone ever tell you that you're kind if great?"

"Hm." She rested her elbow against the back of the sofa and propped her head in her hand. "There is this guy. He can be pretty stubborn and damned infuriating at times, but he does tell me every once in a while how great he thinks that I am."

"Huh." Andy grunted. He reached up and cupped the back of her head. He drew her in and kissed her. He nipped at her bottom lip. "He's an ass for not saying it more often," he told her.

She cupped his face. "He says it enough," she murmured quietly. Her lips lingered against his for just a moment longer before she pulled away. "You are exhausted," she told him. "Come to bed." She watched the protest form, but shook her head at him. "Andy. Come to bed," she said more firmly. She would not leave him alone tonight. Not because she didn't trust him, but because he needed her. Sharon stood and held out a hand. When he finally took it she smiled at him. She pulled him to his feet and led him toward the hall.

She took him into the quiet solitude of her room, where they would not be disturbed. While he showered, she laid out another of his t-shirts, left behind at some point, and the sweats that he slept in when he was at the condo. Before she could leave the bathroom, the glass shower door opened. He beckoned her inside with a look. Despite her long soak in the tub earlier, she swept the t-shirt over her head and joined him. It was as much to offer reassurance as it was because he just wanted her to.

Afterward, once her hair was dry and he had shaved, and they'd gone through a nightly routine that was becoming something of a dance, and something of a habit; Sharon lay down with him in the bed. She placed her head against his shoulder and draped an arm across his middle.

They lay in silence for quite some time. Sharon heard Rusty come home. She listened as he moved around the condo. When she heard his door close she lifted her head. She found Andy asleep beside her, but his body was still tense and his brows were still drawn into a frown. She ached for him. It was only the vibrating of her phone on the dresser across the room that drew her away from him.

Sharon took the phone into the hall before answering it. Somehow she was not surprised to see Nicole's name filling the display.

She barely waited for the other woman to answer before voicing her question. "Sharon, I'm sorry to call so late. Is… have you seen my father tonight?"

She sounded more apprehensive than concerned. Sharon knew that he had been driving around for a while. She wondered how long it had been since he last checked or charged his phone. She made a mental note to look at it before lying back down. "I have," she said quietly. Sharon walked through the condo and let herself out onto the balcony. She didn't want to disturb either of the men in her life. "I just put him to bed," she said quietly. "Nicole, I was sorry to hear about your stepfather."

She drew a thin, shuddering breath. Nicole's voice quivered when she replied. "Thank you. I…" She sighed again. "I've been trying to call dad. When he didn't answer, I got worried. I was afraid that he… well, I was worried."

"Hm." Sharon leaned against the terrace railing. Her gaze swept the view she had of the city. It was a beautiful view, and usually very calming. Somehow that wasn't working tonight. "I see," she said quietly. His daughter had wanted to know if he was with her, or if he had given in to the long, painful day and was somewhere numbing that pain. "He's with me, Nicole. No, he hasn't been drinking. He did go to a meeting," she said. "Your father knows better than we do how to protect his sobriety." If there was an edge of reproach in her tone, Sharon didn't fully regret it. She knew just how easily he could fall; Sharon had experienced that more than once with Jack, in the past as well as recently. The difference was, she trusted Andy to take care of himself, to reach out when he needed to, and to admit when it was too much for him to carry alone; something that he was very good at doing.

Nicole sighed. She felt guilty for asking. "I'm sorry, Sharon. When he didn't answer, after everything that happened today… and some of the things that mom said before he left weren't very kind. I was just worried."

Sharon's brows drew together in a frown. He hadn't mentioned quarrelling with Vicki. "He went for a drive, Nicole. He does that when he needs to think. I'm sure that he hasn't charged his phone in a while." She didn't usually get involved, but this time Sharon sighed. "What did she say, Nicole?"

The other woman was silent for a moment. "She wished it was him." Nicole's voice wavered for a moment. Then she drew a deep breath and let it out slowly. "She didn't mean it. She was upset that she said it. She's just… She and Jeff were together for a really long time. They were supposed to get old, and raise grandbabies, and…" She trailed off when she couldn't say anymore. "I was calling to tell him that she was sorry. She broke down after he left. We managed to get her calmed down and she's sleeping now."

He hadn't mentioned it, but then he wouldn't. He would have chalked it up to the grief. "Your father understands," Sharon told her. "Our words have power to hurt, Nicole, even when we don't mean them. Your father understands that too. He won't hold it against her. How is she physically? Andy said that she wasn't seriously hurt."

"Thank god," Nicole mumbled quietly. "They kept her overnight because of the concussion, but they'll let her go home tomorrow. Charlie is picking her up early, and then taking her to the house. Jake and Charlie are staying with her, and I'll be with her for a little while tomorrow, but with the boys…" She sighed. "I have to send Dean to work, the company has a policy for bereavement, and I can't show preferential treatment. Dean's parents are in Connecticut visiting his sister, so the boys will be with me. Mom doesn't need them running around the house right now…"

"Bring them to me." Sharon offered before really thinking it through. "Pick your father up, and the two of you can head over to spend time with your mother. The boys can stay here with me. You're right, I am sure that they will be a bit much for her right now. You can pick them up when you drop your father off, or we can make the trade somewhere else."

Nicole hesitated for a moment. It was the perfect solution, but she wasn't entirely sure about it. "Sharon, are you sure? They can be a handful, and…"

She laughed. "More of a handful than Rusty?" Sharon shook her head as she looked out over the city. "You know, Tommy and Michael and I have gotten to be very good friends. I think we will be okay together. Nicole, really, I insist. Bring the boys to me and worry about your mother. She needs you right now. You know, I think I can find a way to occupy a pair of young ballet dancers."

A quiet chuckle was her response. "Yes, I'm sure that you can." Nicole was quiet for a moment. "Okay. I'll do that. As long as you are sure that it is not an imposition and if you promise that you will call me if they get to be too much."

"It is not, and I won't." Sharon smiled. "They will be fine. Everything is going to be okay, Nicole." She spoke more quietly, allowed her tone to gentle. "I know that it doesn't seem like it now, but it will be."

It didn't seem like it at all. Nicole wasn't sure that it could be, but she understood what Sharon was saying. "Thank you, Sharon, for everything; and for taking care of dad. I am sorry that I called so late. You're right, I should have trusted him."

"It has been a long day," she said. "I understand why you were worried, and you know, I am not sorry that you called. Your father is very important to me, Nicole, but I am here for you too."

"Yes," she said. "I'm beginning to understand that."

Sharon allowed the call to end. Her gaze swept the city again. She drew a breath and let it cleanse her. After only another moment she returned her attention to the phone in her hand. This time it was to send a text. She could allow it to wait until morning, but she thought it might be a very hectic one. She let Lieutenant Provenza know what had happened, and then she informed him that she and Andy would be taking a personal day.

She had promised herself that she would not allow this relationship to interfere with their professional responsibilities. She had not anticipated all of life's twists and turns, even the heartbreaking ones. It was a life that they had chosen to have together, and she realized for it to work, she would have to concede that there would be moments when she would have to choose their life over their jobs.

One of those moments had come, and she was choosing it wisely.

 **MCMCMCMCMCMC**

When Andy woke the next morning it was to Sharon's alarm. That was not altogether surprising or unusual. They were becoming accustomed to sleeping in each other's beds. What surprised him was the hour. They were normally up much earlier than this, especially with the shared morning routine if they were together. Andy blinked at the clock. It was, indeed, seven-fifteen. He knew that Sharon was still lying beside him, he could feel the warmth from her body. He looked down and sure enough, she was curled around a pillow with her back to him, but her legs were still curled toward her body and her feet were tucked beneath his leg.

He rolled toward her and let his arms slide around her waist. He nosed her hair aside and let his lips move along the length of her neck toward her ear. She shifted and sighed, and hummed quietly as he woke her. "You're late for work," he mumbled thickly.

For just a moment Sharon grew stiff. Her eyes opened and her heart skipped a beat at the thought that, yes, with the sun shining through her bedroom windows, she had actually overslept. Then her mind recalled the events of the previous day and her late night conversation with his daughter. A small smile curved her lips. Sharon closed her eyes again and wiggled closer to him. "No, I'm not. I took a personal day. We both did."

"We did?" Andy hadn't recalled actually doing that, although it was pretty much a given. He would have called Provenza this morning and taken care of it. He lifted his head and looked down at the woman lying in his arms. "Sharon, you didn't have to do that."

"I know." She rolled onto her back and stretched slowly. Her eyes fluttered open again and she gazed up at him. "I wanted to. Nicole called last night. You were asleep. I offered to take the boys for her today. It is going to be a hard, and especially busy day. I did not want her to have to worry about them. She's going to bring them by and pick you up."

Andy sat up and ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah, but… Can you do that?" He squinted down at her. "I mean, you've got the whole Hollings thing, and you can probably get by without me, but somehow I don't see both of us being gone going over okay with all that going on."

"Normally that might be true." Sharon sat up and leaned against the headboard behind her. She realized he was not completely up to date on the Hollings case and smiled at him. "Martin Hollings is not our problem anymore; at least not for the immediate future. It's fine, Andy. Lieutenant Provenza ran Major Crimes for an entire week," she shrugged back at him. "I think that he can manage for a day or two."

Andy snorted quietly. "Okay, I'm sure that he can." He lifted his hands and finally let them fall into his lap. "Isn't this against the rules? You know, the ones that we've got to live by to make all this work? You and me, and keeping all of this," he gestured between them, "out of the workplace?"

Her lips pursed. Sharon's head tilted while she thought of that. She reached over and let her hand slide down his arm. "I won't say that I haven't thought about that. I did. The thing is, Andy, I have chosen to take a personal day, maybe even a second one depending on how things go, all for the sake of keeping this out of the workplace. What you are going through right now _is_ my personal life, and if I go to work today I am going to be thinking about that. I will be worrying about you, and the kids, and wishing that I was with you. That would be breaking the rules that we need to live by to make this work." Sharon offered him a delicate shrug. She swept a hand over his hair before letting it fall to rest against his shoulder. "I know that it can be frustrating, and a little bit tiresome, and that there are times that you hate my rules. I understand, believe me. I am not always fond of them either, but they are the only way that I can have you, and this job, and this life that I quite enjoy most of the time."

"Sharon." There was concern in his gaze that she thought that he was, in any way, settling. "That's not—"

She placed a finger against his lips with a smile. "It's okay," she said gently. When he took her hand, she let her gaze drop to study them. "The officers that I worked with before I transferred to Professional Standards didn't like that my husband was a defense attorney. We put people behind bars, and he made a living getting them out again. When I got home in the evening, it was to all of the injustices heaped upon Jack's clients by the inadequacies of the LAPD. There were days when I literally felt as if I was being pulled apart at the seams, Andy. I needed to keep the two separate if I was going to be at all successful at either. I would not let my colleagues talk to me about my husband, and Jack learned not to talk to me about his cases, at least not to complain about my colleagues. After Jack left, and I was all that my children had, it became even more important to keep those two parts of my life separate. When I was at home it was important that I was _there_. I could not bring my work with me, and once I was with FID, having a family just provided malcontent officers with a way to try and lash out at me. Believe me, I have heard it all."

Sharon smiled sadly. She covered their joined hands with her free one and stroked it along the inside of his wrist. "It isn't the same thing now, but look at what has happened the last few years? Rusty was my work before he was my son. Those two parts of my life are irrevocably intertwined now, and there is nothing that I can do about it. I do not regret it, but it is unsettling to have so many people know so much about my personal life now. Then there is you and I. This isn't a relationship that I would want to hide, you are far too important to me for that, but we are on display for the people that we work with. They are watching us, and talking about us, and it is discomforting. None of that is as important than knowing that you and I can be who we need to be when we are wearing those badges. Whether we are apart or together, I cannot think of you as the man that I love, and I cannot have you thinking of me that way either. I need to be able to give you an order that will put you in danger, and I need you to take that order. I need you to let me do my job and not worry that you are going to feel some need to protect me because of who we are when we're alone. I rely on that. The team relies on that. Most of all, I know that my best friend has my back, and that neither of us are questioning our motives. I guess all of that is just a long-winded way of saying that no, we are not breaking any rules if I take a couple of days off to be with you right now. Lieutenant Provenza knows how to reach me if I am needed. But right now you need me more. I need balance, Andy, but that doesn't mean that you are less important to me than our jobs."

For several long moments, Andy just sat there while he held her gaze. She was looking back at him, so open and warm, with everything that she felt written clearly across her face. It was those eyes; they could never lie to him. The emotions in them were many. Predominantly there was the love that he knew she felt, but he could also see her worry. She had lived a life with a partner that blamed her devotion to her job, to her kids, and to anything but him for the many reasons that he would not stay with her; would not love her in the way that she deserved. As strong as she was, he knew that her heart was as vulnerable as his. Her failed marriage had left its mark on her, but she moved forward with grace and strength, because that was who she was. She wanted this relationship, and so she would accept all of the things that gave her pause, she would face them and move forward in spite of them; that tenacity was one of the many things that he loved about her.

Her job was important to her. Just as his was important to him. They had both worked damned hard to get where they were. They wouldn't sacrifice it easily, and it shouldn't come to that. She was right, however. They needed to find a balance, a way to have both, their jobs and each other. It was a matter of choosing the right one, at the right time. Now she was choosing him.

Andy supposed that shouldn't really surprise him, but there was a part of him that was. It was that part of him that still couldn't believe that she would take a chance on a guy like him, with the history that he had. That part of him that was still amazed that she could love him. The thing about her was, once she was in, she was _in_. She couldn't do anything in half-measures. As much as he appreciated that about her, it frightened him too.

He worried that one day he would take her for granted; that she would give him everything that she had, and he wouldn't measure up. That he would use her, and she would find him lacking. They were baseless fears. She knew everything about him, and had seen him at his worst. Still she chose to love him. It only made him want her all the more.

At a lack for words, Andy reached for her and looped an arm around her waist. He drew her around and laid her down on the bed. His body covered hers, and while she laughed, his mouth found her upturned lips. He pushed his hand into her sleep-tousled hair and swept it away from her face. He captured her other hand in his and drew it over her head. While their fingers twined together, he showed her what he couldn't say. He didn't have her way with words, but he hoped that she knew, even a little, what she meant to him.

He was a man of action, and not of conversation. She had known that. Sharon shifted on the mattress beneath him. She lifted a leg and wrapped it around his hips while her free hand moved into his hair to hold the back of his head. When his tongue swept her bottom lip, she opened to him, and moaned in response to the feel of his hand sliding beneath her shirt to rest against bare skin.

Andy had every intention of tugging that shirt over her head and exploring what lay beneath, but the quiet knock at her bedroom door stopped them both. His head lifted and he looked toward it. He had almost forgotten where they were. "Crap," he sighed. She was wound around him, and letting her go was the last thing on his mind. "She's bus—"

Sharon slapped a hand over his mouth. Luckily for him, he hadn't spoken loud enough for Rusty to actually hear him. She cleared her throat, but still her voice managed to sound low and thick. "Yes, Rusty. What is it?" She was thankful that her son would never dream of opening that door unless she asked him to.

"Uh…" Rusty's voice was muffled as it came through the door. "Sharon, it's getting late. I was just making sure that you didn't over sleep." It was unlike her to still be in bed at this hour on a workday. Even when she got in late because of a case she was always up and dressed by now.

"Everything is fine, Rusty." Andy moved against her and she sucked in a breath. She shot a pointed look at him and drew her bottom lip between her teeth. She had to swallow hard before answering again. The mischief in his gaze made her eyes narrow. "I took a personal day. I'll explain in a few. Can you start the coffee?"

"No problem." He sounded as relieved as he felt. Rusty was just glad to be getting away from that door, especially since the Lieutenant's jacket was tossed over the back of the couch. Like he didn't know what was going on. Good grief, did they have to do those things here?

Sharon waited for the sound of Rusty's retreating footsteps to fade away before she let her hand drop from his mouth. "I take it back," she decided, "you are still in trouble."

"You like my trouble." He lowered his head and captured her mouth again. "How long does it take the coffee to make? Five minutes? Plenty of time," he said, and nipped playfully at her bottom lip.

"Sure, if you are sixteen. It's not happening, Flynn. He is here, and he is awake." Sharon pushed at him. When he rolled onto his back she swung a leg over him. She smirked as she climbed across him to get out of the bed.

Andy groaned. "We never have this problem at my house." He narrowed his eyes at her and sat up. Andy curled an arm around her waist and drew her back onto the bed before she could do more than stand up. He pulled her down on top of him. His hands moved into her hair and held it off her face while he captured her mouth again. They had a few minutes to let the kiss linger and the heat to build. Before they could get too carried away he let go of her. "Morning," he rumbled.

She laid her head against his chest and smiled. "Morning," she replied quietly. She counted the seconds, along with his heartbeats. It was moving at a rapid pace, just as hers was. After a moment, she sighed and pushed away from him again. This time she held out a hand, and when he took it, she pulled him to stand beside her. "Nicole said she would be here around nine. We have time for breakfast."

He dropped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her into his side. He kissed the side of her head and they only separated as she left the room to warn Rusty that he was there. They would take turns going about their morning routine, at least while the kid was around. If they were at his place, or the kid was gone, they would share the routine. With Rusty around, well, the kid spooked easy. He acted like he was okay with them being together most of the time, and Andy didn't think the kid really had a problem with _him_. It was having another guy around in the middle of the night that bothered him. He was getting used to it though, and that was what mattered.

In the kitchen Sharon found the coffee already brewing and Rusty contemplating the contents of the refrigerator. "Good morning." She walked past him and pulled down two mugs.

"Hey." He pushed the fridge door closed and looked at her. "Never tell me," he said.

Sharon chuckled quietly. "Deal." She traded places with him and reached into the fridge for eggs and a few other items. "Andy is joining us for breakfast," was all that she said. "Nicole will be here with the boys in a little while." Sharon set everything on the counter and turned to look at her son. "There was a car accident early yesterday morning. You remember Jeff, her stepfather? He was killed. Andy's ex-wife, Vicki, was also in the car." She wasn't sure what Rusty remembered of them, he had only met them once, the night of the ballet. "I offered to babysit today, but Andy is going with Nicole to see her mother and help start some of the arrangements."

"That's terrible." Rusty didn't really know what to think. He didn't know them, but anyone dying was not a good thing. Rusty leaned against the counter. "Was Nicole close to him?" He had no real reference point with this situation. He had lost a parent, both of them, but they hadn't died. They had chosen to walk out of his life. Now he had Sharon, and the thought of losing her suddenly made his throat close up. Rusty swallowed hard. "I mean, he was just her stepdad, right?"

"It's a little more complicated than that." Sharon took down a bowl to crack the eggs into. She glanced at Rusty and offered a small smile. "Nicole and her brother were still very young when their mother remarried. Jeff has been in their lives since they were children." She wouldn't speak out of turn, wouldn't reveal any confidences or things that Andy may not be comfortable with Rusty knowing. Instead she just shrugged. "Yes, they were close to him. It is like losing another parent, in a way. He helped to raise them."

A parent that wasn't really your parent, but someone you were close to anyway. Rusty nodded slowly. That was something that he could relate to. "So," Rusty's brows drew together in a frown while he thought it through. "Andy is going to go and take care of his ex-wife? How does that even work? I mean is that even something that is okay?"

Somehow she expected that question. Sharon's lips pursed while she thought of how to answer him. There wasn't a lot that Rusty would _want_ to know about her relationship with Andy, while at the same time, she knew that she couldn't dodge the answer. She tried to always be honest with Rusty, at least as much as she could be. "Adult relationships are complicated, Rusty." Sharon studied the bowl in front of her for a moment. She shook her head and began cracking eggs. "People get divorced for a great number of reasons. I can't really explain Andy's relationship with Vicki to you; it isn't my place to do so. What I can tell you is that when you have loved someone, really loved them, and you share children together, it's hard to turn your back on them when they need you." Sharon picked up a whisk but she looked at her son first. "The next few days will be very hectic around here, and I am sorry about that."

"That's…" Rusty shook his head. "That's not even a problem, Sharon. It's really okay. I just wondered how it all worked. Of course you're going to help." He offered her a wry smile. "You're all about saving people." He walked over and pulled bacon out of the fridge. "So, this whole babysitting thing," Rusty arched a brow at her. "You're not going to want me to help, right?"

Sharon laughed quietly. There was only so much that she could expect of her boy. He drew the line. Nicole's boys really liked him, and that meant following him around and trying to draw him into their games, or asking him a thousand questions about what he was doing. Rusty didn't normally mind them, and he was usually very polite, but she supposed she could give him a pass this time. "No, I do not need you to help me." She shook her head at him. "I do not know why it surprises all of you, but I did once take care of small children all on my own."

Rusty moved to stand beside her at the stove. "Yeah," he snorted, "and Ricky cuts his own hair. Maybe we should get Nicole a nanny for the day, because somehow, you went so wrong there."

"Excuse me." Sharon pointed the whisk at him. Her nose wrinkled. "Have you seen this hair? Oh no, he most definitely did not get that trait from me." She sniffed as she turned back to the eggs. "We will blame that unfortunate aspect of his personality on his father."

Andy found them in the kitchen, still laughing. "All yours." He had taken the opportunity to slide into a clean pair of jeans but he was running low on t-shirts. Instead he had taken the dress shirt of a suit he kept on hand in Sharon's closet and pulled it on. The sleeves were rolled up and it was un-tucked. It would do for the day. It served as a reminder that if they were going to be spending more mornings together, they would need to plan better.

"Oh good. Switch with me." Sharon turned over the making of the eggs to Andy. Her hand slipped down his arm as she moved past him.

Rusty waited for her to leave. His lips pursed while he turned the bacon that he was frying. He slanted a look at the man beside him. "So, let's talk about your intentions…"

 **MCMCMCMCMCMC**

Sharon was already perfectly aware of the fact that her condo would be no place to occupy two small boys who were full of energy. After Nicole and Andy left for the day, Sharon packed Tommy and Michael into the car for a day of adventure. She made a list of places that she could recall being good, specifically for boys their age. At eight and six years old, the park was on her list, but would not hold their attention indefinitely. Coupled with that was the idea that she was trying to distract them.

Tommy and Michael had lost their mother at a very young age. They remembered very little about her, although Dean and Nicole tried to keep her memory alive for them. They also didn't have much memory of the events surrounding her loss. Death was still an abstract concept to both of them. The boys had not been part of Nicole's family for very long, but it was long enough that they had some appreciation of Grandma Vicki and Grandpa Jeff. They understood that he was gone away now, much as their mother was.

They were full of questions and a sense of sadness that they could not quite understand. Keeping them distracted and their minds on other things would hold those questions at bay, at least until their parents were prepared to answer them.

Sharon took them to a Children's museum first. The boys were not initially enthused that their day of adventure was going to start with an educational activity, but that changed once they arrived. There were large displays of animals and dinosaurs. They could explore robotics and electromagnetism; with all of it being hands on. The boys were able to don smocks and paint their own masterpieces, and to sit in the sand and dig for dinosaur bones.

Sharon marked one down in the win column and reminded herself that the Children's Museum was always one of Ricky's favorite places to explore too. It occupied their attention until it was time for lunch, and at that point, Sharon decided that the park wasn't a bad place to go. They got sandwiches, and a salad for her, at a deli before finding a spot at a park near the beach that her children had always loved. Sharon had thought ahead and spread out a blanket before laying out the boys' lunch. She had also procured small cups of fresh carrots, apple wedges, and grapes for the pair of them.

While the boys were eating, Emily joined them. A real life ballerina in their presence was an exciting ordeal for Tommy and Michael. They were off and dancing around in the soft grass while Sharon stayed behind on the blanket. She took the opportunity while they were under Emily's watchful eye to check the messages on her phone. She only had a few inquiries from work, and answered those quickly. There was a text from Nicole asking how the boys were doing and if they were behaving themselves. Sharon sent her a picture she had taken of the two of them digging in the sand at the museum and assured her they were being perfectly well behaved. At least, as behaved as any eight and six year old could be.

The boys were well mannered but they were boys. She was beginning to remember just how much mischief that little boys could get into when they set their minds to it. Sharon's attention was drawn back to the two of them when their laughter turned to squeals of disgust. She found the cause in the arrival of Emily's lunch date, and the kiss that she had greeted him with. Her nose wrinkled. Sharon decided she much agreed with the boys.

"Okay, none of that," she called. "There are children present."

"We'll remember that," Emily called back. Her attention was drawn back to the man beside her. She was supposed to meet him for lunch, but the news of what happened and how her mother was spending the day had prompted her to change her plans. She was pleasantly surprised that he had chosen to join her. "Okay munchkins, this is Buzz. He's a human jungle gym. Get him."

"What… oh god!" He took a step back but it wasn't enough. The two small boys launched themselves at him. Buzz managed to catch one of them around the middle and lifted him. He held him like a football and let him hang upside down against his side.

Over the course of the next hour Buzz and Emily managed to keep the boys occupied. If Emily thought that she was tired from her morning rehearsal, that was nothing compared to keeping up with two young boys, a frisbee, and her boyfriend. As the boys ran back to the blanket for juice and snacks, Emily collapsed onto the soft grass.

The sun was shining overhead. She lay on her back with her eyes closed and soaked it all in. Her sunglasses were pushed into her hair, holding it back from her face. She felt movement beside her and rolled her head toward it. Emily laughed. "You follow busy police officers around all week, you ride out all night, and it barely effects you. Put you in front of a pair of little boys and you look absolutely beaten."

"Says the girl who is doing two rehearsals a day." Buzz shook his head. His shades were still covering his eyes. "They have a lot of energy. How does anyone do that all day, everyday?"

Emily's back arched as she laughed. "They find suckers like us to occupy and wear them out." She looked over at where her mother sat, chatting amiably with the boys who were now sitting calmly while they drank their juice and snacked on fresh fruit and vegetables. "Hey Buzz, she's kind of wicked…"

"Diabolical." He said, in full agreement. "It really gives new meaning to all of those times she asked me to keep an eye on Rusty." Buzz tipped his head back and closed his eyes. It wasn't an overly warm day. The sun felt good, especially with how busy he had been recently. "I can now say I have experience with sulky teenager and exuberant grade-schooler. Someday that may be beneficial."

"Hm." Emily rolled onto her side and propped her head in her hands. "Can you imagine doing this every day? It's crazy!"

"Maybe. But if you were doing it every day, I don't think you would notice the difference. It would just be the way that things are. I think I prefer this in small doses, personally."

"Really?" She looked surprised. Emily's brows rose. "Don't you want to have kids?"

He seemed to think about it. He turned the question over in his head, and not for the first time. What future did he really see for himself? Buzz wasn't entirely sure. There were a lot of things that he wanted to do, dreams that he had. He looked at Emily and tipped his shades up. He shrugged at her. "I don't know," he said honestly. "I think it would depend on what was happening in my life at the time that it became an option, and who I was with."

She hummed thoughtfully. "That's not a bad answer. It's usually a yes or no. People don't usually say _maybe_ or _we'll see_. It's usually yeah, give me three of the little beggars, or absolutely not!" She smiled at him. "I think you get points for that answer."

"Thank you," he said carefully, "I think." Buzz arched a brow at her. "What about you?" He didn't imagine that she would, at least not for a long time. They had honestly never discussed it.

"Maybe." She smiled brightly at him. "We'll see." Emily lay back down again. "Actually, someday I think it would be nice. I think it just depends on where my career goes and who my partner is. I'm not opposed to the idea. Right now it just isn't feasible. I want to dance, and there aren't many years left that I can do that at this level. I want to really enjoy them. Is that selfish?"

"I don't think so." He shrugged at her. "I think it would be more selfish if you chose to have children and then neglected them to follow your dreams." A small, crooked smile quirked his lips. "So then, can we safely say that we survived this conversation, and that we both want the same thing?" Which was to see where life would lead them and to indulge their professional dreams while they could.

"You get a pass." Emily looked at her watch. "I have to get back." She sat up and rose in a single, graceful move. She held out a hand to help pull him up. "We're doing a photo shoot after rehearsal tonight. I'm going to be late picking you up."

"That's okay," Buzz shrugged. "I have some work to occupy me. We should stop and get dinner on the way home. There's a new place over on Ocean that I heard about. We should try it…" Trendy restaurants were a passion that they both shared.

They made plans for the evening as they walked over to bid Sharon and her two young charges a goodbye.

After Emily and Buzz left, each to return to their respective jobs for the remainder of the day, Sharon packed the boys back into the car. She took them back to the condo and got them cleaned up. It was no surprise to her, after the busy morning and afternoon that they enjoyed, that they were both asleep on her sofa before the movie that she started for them was half over.

It was Dean that came to pick them up. He arrived after finishing up his work for the day. The boys were only just up from their nap and playing with the puzzles that Sharon had gotten them at the museum. He was profusely thankful to her for watching them, and promised to make other arrangements, but Sharon would hear nothing of it. She offered to watch them again while Nicole dealt with the family tragedy.

Once the boys were gone with their father, Sharon set up her computer at the table to get through the work that had gone untouched during the day. She was still seated there when Nicole dropped Andy off. He sat down next to her looking tired and emotionally drained. They said nothing and let the comfortable silence surround them. Somehow they managed to get everyone through the first day. There would be others to follow. They would face those together too, even if they were physically apart, they were still working toward the same goal.

 **-TBC-**


	9. Chapter 9

**Leaping In**

 **by Kadi**

 **Rated T**

 **Disclaimer:** This is not my sandbox, this is just my favorite place to play. I promise to put all of the toys back when I'm done.

* * *

 **Chapter 9**

In the wake of Jeff Layton's death life began to slowly return to normal. Those first days were hectic and sad as arrangements for his burial were made and the grieving process began. After the memorial there was a push to reacquaint themselves with old routines. Sharon and Andy returned to work, and for a short while, it seemed as if everything was back to the way that it had been before.

As the days turned to weeks, Nicole began calling. She was at loose ends with what to do with her mother. Vicki was lonely and distraught. She tried talking to her mother, and for a few days that had helped. Then it was as if Vicki stopped listening or became immune to Nicole's sympathy and reassurances. When that began Nicole turned to her father. It seemed that he was the only one that Vicki was willing to listen to, even if that meant that they were fighting with one another.

Andy's phone began to vibrate at all hours of the day and night. Vicki was sending text messages or calling. If Andy didn't answer, and often during the day he would not, she would settle for talking to Nicole or Charlie.

Sharon tried to understand, truly she did. She could only imagine how it must feel to lose a spouse in that manner. Hers had chosen to walk away; he was not ripped from her by death. She thought of losing Andy in that way, and immediately turned her mind away from those thoughts. They left her cold and aching. It was not a place that she wanted to go.

Still, it was frustrating. Victoria Layton was becoming quite the handful. The former Mrs. Flynn was a bigger part of their lives now than she ever thought possible. Sharon didn't know if it was more frustrating or amusing when, in the absence of having her ex-husband or children available, Vicki began calling _her_.

Sharon hoped for a civil relationship with Andy's family when their relationship began. She never thought that it would involve sitting down to lunch with his ex-wife as she came to terms with the idea that she would be spending the rest of her life alone. They learned very quickly that Vicki's moods could swing from grief-stricken to angry without warning. She ran hot and cold, at once clinging to having anyone in her life, even if that meant Andy, to somehow finding a way to blame him for the current state of her life. When she raged there was no reasoning with her. They learned simply to let her feel it, as her anger would eventually give way to the grief that was fueling it.

It wasn't easy, those evenings that Andy spent away from her, when she knew that he was with Vicki. Most of the time Nicole was with them, and even when she wasn't, Sharon knew that nothing untoward was happening, but it was just the fact that she was now the one missing _him_. They had very little time together outside of their work as it was, to give up a portion of that to his ex-wife seemed unthinkable. Sharon did it, and she tried to not complain about it too much, but it was very hard. She was not as selfless as people might imagine that she was.

The final straw came on an evening that she and Andy planned days in advance. They were going to have the night just to themselves. They were going to have a quiet, romantic dinner in, and then spend the rest of the evening just enjoying each other. When the day finally arrived and there was not a case standing in their way, they both breathed a small sigh of relief.

The afternoon was spent in preparation. Sharon donned a deep blue, form fitting blouse and a pair of jeans before making the drive to Andy's bungalow in Echo Park. Sharon wasn't overly surprised that she arrived to find him gone. He was meant to run by the bakery to pick up dessert, and she knew that he probably left it to the last minute. He always did.

While he was gone she started dinner. She was putting together the spicy Mediterranean pasta that she knew he loved. The zesty pepper sauce would be poured over soft linguine noodles and sautéed onions, peppers, and steamed asparagus. While the sauce was simmering, Sharon set the table. She was just walking back into the kitchen when she heard the front door.

"You're late," She called. "There had better be chocolate in your hands." She filled a glass with ice and splashed sparkling club soda over it before adding just enough cranberry juice to give it color and tang. The sound of a woman's laugh had her going still.

"Strawberry tarts actually," Vicki stated. She carried the pastry box into the kitchen and sat it on the counter. "But if you'd rather have chocolate, I'm sure that we can send him back out." She tilted her head and flashed a winsome smile. "I hope you don't mind one more for dinner."

Sharon turned slowly. She found Andy standing in the entrance of the kitchen. His shoulders were slumped and he was giving her an aggrieved look. Her eyes were wide. Her mouth parted but there was no sound forthcoming. This was most definitely _not_ the evening that they had planned. Nowhere in the discussion of _romantic evening in_ had they once mentioned it including his ex-wife. Sharon blinked once as their eyes met. Her voice, when finally she was able to speak, was deceptively sweet and dripping saccharine. She was pleased to see Andy flinch at the tone. "I cannot imagine why I would mind one more for dinner. Andy, do set another place, will you?" She flashed her teeth in a smile that was not altogether nice. She might not kill him, but he might not survive the night either.

Andy sighed, and seemed to deflate just a little more. "Yeah. Sure." He was definitely in for it, but then he had known that he would be the moment that he asked Vicki if she wanted to join them. He honestly never expected her to agree. He was just trying to be nice. How was he supposed to know that she wouldn't be able to read between the lines of what he was saying? He specifically said that he and Sharon were planning to spend a quiet night in, just the two of them. He had never known Vicki to be quite so clueless before, unless of course she wasn't being clueless and she did get it, but chose to ignore it. That was a little more like the woman he was once married to. The thing was, he couldn't imagine why she would be deliberately trying to push her way in to his relationship with Sharon. They were over. So very, completely, and totally _over_. He didn't _think_ that Vicki was acting the way that she was out of anything but loneliness, but he could be wrong. He had been wrong before. He really hoped that he wasn't wrong. The situation was already awkward enough.

Sharon watched as Andy made his way across the kitchen to retrieve another place setting for the table. He was moving slowly, she would almost call it trudging. Her lips pursed. What did he expect her to do? Kick the woman out? He was the one that had invited her! She was not going to be the bad guy because he felt bad for his ex-wife. Oh no, he married the woman, he divorced her, he could be the one to show her the door. In the meantime she would be nothing except completely hospitable. "Vicki, dinner isn't quite ready yet. Can I get you something to drink while you wait?"

"Oh, water is fine." She waved a hand through the air. Vicki waited until she had the bottle in hand before she stepped out of the kitchen. The tension between those two was not lost on her. Andrew had managed to get himself into trouble, at least in not warning the girlfriend ahead of time. One of these days he might just learn, she thought. Vicki shook her head and tried to hide the amused smile as she wandered around the living room, eyes on the pictures that her ex-husband had displayed on his walls and shelves. Most of them she had seen before, or had copies of where their children were concerned, but there were others that were new. One in particular caught her eye. It was on a shelf beside the television. It was a photograph of him and the new woman in his life. She recognized the scenery around them as Nicole's backyard, but it was the way that they were standing together, arms wrapped around one another that drew her attention. Vicki sighed. How many such photographs of herself and Jeff in a similar pose did she have? Was that all that was really left of the life that they once had?

The moment that they were alone in the kitchen Sharon whirled on him. " _Andy_."

Just the inflection with which she said his name had him wincing. He stood in front of her, the extra place setting in his hands. "I know." What else could he say? "What was I going to do? She wouldn't stop calling me."

"Ignore her like you do the rest of the time?" Sharon glared at him. "Inviting her to dinner certainly isn't on the list of things that you could have done differently," she hissed, trying to keep her voice down.

"I get that," he hissed back. "But I didn't know what else to do, okay? Nicole and Dean took the boys camping, Charlie is back in Fresno, and there wasn't anyone else to keep her company tonight. She's never had to be on her own before. I felt bad." Andy sighed. "She went from her parents place to living with me when we got married, and then after she kicked me out, her sister moved in with her to help out with the kids. After that, she was with Jeff. She's not like you, Sharon. She doesn't know how to be alone."

She drew back and her eyes widened. "What is that supposed to mean?" Her tone dipped, and the warning in it was clear. He had entered dangerous territory.

Andy visibly grimaced. He could have worded that better. "Not how it sounded, obviously." He put the plate and cutlery that he had retrieved for Vicki down and took a step toward her. When she held up a hand as if to ward him off, he rolled his eyes. "Look, I tried really hard to get out of inviting her over tonight. I honestly did, Sharon, but with both of the kids out of town and everything that's gone on... I really didn't know what to do. I figured if I didn't invite her she would end up calling or texting both of us all night. At least if she's here..."

"Then you don't have to be so worried about her." Sharon folded her arms across her chest and continued to glare at him. She didn't want to sound like a jealous shrew, and she didn't want to feel like one either. Jealousy was the last thing that she felt, but anyway she put it, she was the one that was complaining about her lover bringing his ex-wife into their lives. "I understand that you are sympathetic, I really do," she began carefully. "So am I, but at some point, Vicki is going to have to get used to the idea that her life has changed. The rest of our lives do not stop because she is grieving. The only thing that any of us is doing right now is prolonging the inevitable. There is going to come a point where we cannot be there for her, and she is going to be faced with the very stark reality that she is alone. We are not equipping her for that right now, all that we are doing is enabling her denial." Sharon sighed. "I know that I have been just as guilty, and yes, I agree that it is hard to say no to the grieving widow, but Andy..." She held her arms out and gestured around the kitchen where she had been preparing dinner. Through the doors beyond that room there was a dining table set and candles waiting to be lit.

"I know." He took a step forward again. "I _know_ ," he said again, when her look told him that she didn't really believe him. This time she didn't ward him off or move away from him. His hands settled against her hips and he tugged her forward. "You think this was how I wanted tonight to go? Believe me," amusement danced in his dark eyes, "it wasn't. I miss you. I was looking forward to it just being the two of us." He wanted to spend time with her. He wanted to be alone with her, to be able to hold her and not worry about the opinions of others - specifically her kids, and the gross factor of _old people dating,_ as they liked to tease them. "How about this," he said, "we'll have dinner, and then I'll put her in a cab. It will just be the two of us and..."

"Oh no." Sharon's smile was slow, but decidedly wicked. "You are not off the hook that easily." She poked his chest. "You are going to make this up to me, Mister. I suggest that you start thinking long and hard about how you can do that." Sharon made a show of taking his hands and removing them from her body, but the sparkle in her eyes, and the way that they crinkled at the corners did little to support the stern attitude she was trying to project.

She turned away from him, but laughed when he only caught her arm and pulled her back. His mouth caught her upturned lips in a kiss. Andy walked her backward until she was pressed into the corner of the cabinet, near the sink. He held her there, hands at her sides and pulled her against him. The low, throaty sound that she made as he teased her bottom lip went right through him. He lifted a hand and pushed it into her hair to grip the back of her head as he deepened the kiss. His other hand moved slowly up her side, over her ribcage, until his thumb brushed against the underside of her breast. "How's that?" He nipped playfully at her bottom lip.

"Hm." Sharon gave a low, throaty chuckle. Her hands moved slowly up his chest. She smiled against his mouth and then she pushed him backward, a full arms length, away from her. "Nice try, but I'm not that easy." She gave his chest a pat and walked around him. "Points for effort." Sharon smirked at him as she sashayed across the kitchen.

Andy groaned. He hung his head while his arms dropped to his sides. This was the price he paid, he thought, for dating Darth Raydor. He sighed. Back to the drawing board, this one was obviously going to cost him. Andy picked up the extra place setting and walked toward the dining room with it. "Note to self, date night is not a good time to feel sympathetic."

"Now he remembers," Sharon muttered, just loudly enough for him to hear.

They sat down for dinner a short while later and Sharon was grateful that Andy thought to remove the candles while he was setting the extra place for Vicki. She might not be pleased about the interruption but she wasn't going to rub the fact that they had planned a romantic evening in the grieving Widow's face.

Vicki leaned forward once her plate was filled and simply inhaled the delightful aroma that was rising toward her. "My god, Sharon, I never thought I would meet anyone that could actually duplicate Rosa Flynn's pepper sauce." It was no secret that she had not gotten along with her late, former mother-in-law, but she would never deny that the woman could cook.

"She likes rules." Andy cast a look at his partner. His dark eyes were sparkling. She had found that recipe on an old, folded piece of paper, tucked into the back of one of the cookbooks in his kitchen. Sharon had read it once, tried it, and nailed it. "Following recipes is just another form of playing by the rules," he teased.

Her eyes narrowed. Sharon's lips pursed, but there was amusement dancing in her gaze. "I am going to remember that," she drawled, "the next time that you ask for my grandmother's brownies."

Andy pouted at her. "That's just mean." Those brownies would be reason enough to fall in love with her, if he wasn't already.

Sharon simply hummed at him. Perhaps he had forgotten whom he was dealing with. "Maybe," she said, but offered a shrug, "but there you have it."

Vicki laughed at the pair. She was not unaccustomed to watching her ex-husband dig himself a hole, but he seemed to be enjoying himself. "I'm impressed," she continued, her attention on Sharon, "that you had time to learn to cook like this with your busy career and family. I had the opportunity to stay home with my two, and I can still barely manage a microwave."

"I remember." Andy looked heavenward. His tone was playfully dry. He smirked when his ex-wife glared at him. When she rolled her eyes he grinned. "I do!" It wasn't that Vicki had been a bad cook; she just lacked the patience and attention span to be an exceptional cook. She could manage a meal, but more than once he had come home to a burned dinner because she had allowed herself to be so easily distracted.

Sharon shot a look at him but allowed her gaze to drift to Vicki. She smiled as she shrugged. "It was something my mother taught me, actually. My brothers couldn't stand the thought of cooking, and I didn't much relish the idea of doing dishes. When it came to the kitchen chores we would always trade. I spent a lot of time with my mother while she was preparing dinner. She didn't mind the trading, she thought it would help to... temper some of my more... terrible habits, as she called them."

Her eyes were sparkling. Andy leaned forward and rested his chin in his hand as he gazed at her. "Terrible habits? You? I don't believe it."

"Hm." She tilted her head at him. "Indeed. My brothers and I are all very close in age," she explained for Vicki's benefit, since Andy already knew that about her. "I have Steven a year older than I am and Joseph is eighteen months younger. We were always together, and I became something of a tomboy. I couldn't stand the idea of dresses and skirts, not if I was going to be running around with the boys. It was just too inconvenient. Our sister Maureen came along several years later, something of a surprise if you will. In her my mother got the _girl_ that she always wanted. The one that she could dress up and be frilly with. She and my father allowed me to do as I pleased, as long as I could act like a lady at family events and social gatherings, and of course at Mass." Sharon could see Andy grinning widely at her. Much of this he hadn't known, but Vicki was also intrigued and so she continued. She waved a hand as she spoke. "The boys and I played sports with their friends. I still have a scar on the side of my knee from sliding into base and cutting it on a jagged rock." She had told Andy that her very close relationships with her brothers and father were the reasons that she enjoyed sports so much, and that was true, she just had not mentioned how actively involved with them she was as a young girl. "Wherever my brothers were, I could be found there too. Unless I was in the kitchen with my mother." She shrugged. "At least until I turned sixteen and that changed."

Vicki's brows lifted. The age was about right, so she gave a knowing smile. "What happened?"

Sharon hummed. "I discovered boys and decided that dresses were not so bad after all. I wanted to be riding in cars with my brothers' friends, not helping them pop the hood. My brothers were so distraught. They were already busy keeping the middle school boys away from Maureen. They never imagined having to go up against their friends or teammates." Sharon shook her head, she laughed. "To this day Maureen still won't let me forget the fact that _she_ had to show me how to wear makeup. But to make a long story short, she wasn't much interested in cooking either. The time in the kitchen was mine with my mother, and I really didn't mind it. I still don't. We had some very good times together, and I learned to do something that I enjoy." She cut a look at Andy and added in a dry tone, "Just like I learned that rules are incredibly enjoyable too."

Andy shook his head before allowing it to hang, briefly, in acknowledgement. "I knew that one was going to come back to haunt me." When he looked up at her again, it was to offer a crooked grin and wink at her. "I can't say that I mind the result either." He lifted his fork and took a bite of the pasta. It wasn't entirely his mother's, but she got it close, damned close, especially for someone who had never met his mother. That she tried, and gave it so much effort, made him love it all the more, and her for doing it.

Vicki watched the couple look at one another and smile. She adjusted her gaze and concentrated on her meal for the moment. The room became charged. It was another thing that she was familiar with, and another thing that she would miss. The ache in her chest intensified at the thought of all the things that she would no longer experience. She gave it a moment and waited for the air in the room to shift and settle again before clearing her throat. She smiled knowingly at the pair of them. "Well," she teased, "anything at all is better than Andy's poor attempts in the kitchen."

"I know!" Sharon leaned forward, a bright smile curving her lips. Amusement lit her eyes as she and Vicki shared a laugh. "My god how did he survive so long on his own? I really don't know which is worse, the mess he makes when he tries to cook or the outcome of the actual cooking."

"Hey!" Andy scowled at both of them. "It's not that bad."

"It is," they both said. Vicki shook her head at him. "Andy, you can burn ramen. No one burns ramen."

Sharon added a delighted, "in the microwave," and her tone took on a sing-song quality as she said it. "The only thing that he is allowed to touch in my kitchen is the coffee maker. Unless he has a sitter, and then he is to be closely watched at all times."

His ex-wife's eyes widened. She blinked at Sharon. "You let him make coffee?"

"Hm." Sharon speared a piece of asparagus on her fork and took a bite. She nodded while she chewed. "Yes, he's gotten quite good at that over the years. Honestly, I understand fully now why he became a vegetarian. Several varieties of vegetable do not need to be cooked," she teased, slanting a playful look at the man in question.

"Cute." Andy pointed his fork at her. "Real cute, Sharon." He looked between the two women again and sniffed. "You two are not allowed to gang up on me. There's a rule against that I'm sure."

"Is there?" Sharon smiled sweetly at him. "I'll have to check. I do not believe that there is." Her eyes sparkled back at him. "I do know rules, after all."

He made a face at her but there was a glimmer of amusement dancing in his dark eyes. "Keep it up, Sharon."

Her brows lifted. "Or what?"

The sound of his doorbell ringing caught all of their attention before he could answer. Andy stood up and headed toward the sound. Vicki laughed. "He can be so sensitive."

Sharon simply hummed and shrugged. That would teach him to invite his ex-wife to dinner on date night. Her head tilted as she listened to the sounds coming from the other room. She could hear Andy speaking to whoever had rang the bell. Then he called her name. She placed her napkin on the table as she rose. "Excuse me."

"Of course," Vicki waved her away. She had more than enough to hold her attention at the moment.

There was a confused look on her face as she joined him. Sharon's brows lifted when she saw who was standing in the foyer. "Emily? What's going on?" Her daughter looked pensive and just a bit upset. "Honey, why are you here?"

An odd sense of relief washed over her upon seeing her mother. Emily strode toward her. "We need to talk. Like, really talk." She looked around a little blindly before her attention fell on Andy again. "Do you... is there some place we can go?"

"We'll step out onto the back deck," Sharon said. It would provide the most amount of privacy. "Do you mind?" She asked, knowing that she would be leaving him at the tender mercies of his ex-wife. All joking aside, she knew that he and Vicki still had many problems and she didn't want to abandon him, but she wasn't going to put Emily off either.

"Not at all." Andy nodded toward the sliding patio doors. "Go ahead. I'll go put your plate in the microwave to keep it warm." He glanced at Emily; the girl was still visibly rattled by whatever had upset her, although calmer in her mother's presence. "Take your time," he told them.

"Thank you." Sharon slipped an arm around Emily's shoulders and drew her toward the back door. After they stepped outside she made sure that the door was closed behind them. It was a cool night, but not overly uncomfortable. "Emily." Her hand slid down her daughter's arm to curl around her hand. They moved to lean against the wooden railing of the deck and she studied her girl's face. "What happened?"

Emily folded her arms around herself and closed her eyes. "We had a stupid fight." She frowned. "Or no, actually, it wasn't so stupid. It was relevant, more relevant than he really knows."

Sharon's stomach clenched. She had worried about this eventuality. She was left feeling decidedly uncomfortable as her head tilted. Any other time she would have absolutely no issue listening to her daughter describe the argument that she had with her boyfriend, but in this situation, they were also discussing a member of her team. "What was the fight about?" She asked carefully, while wondering if she could truly remain impartial in this situation.

"He went on another ride-along today," Emily explained. "That wasn't the problem. He came home injured. Nothing serious," She was quick to add, before her mother could become too concerned, "it was really very minor, but it just... he blew it off like it was nothing. What if it had been something? What if some idiot drunk that he was trying to arrest hadn't just clipped him while resisting? What if he had actually been seriously injured? This is not like trailing along behind you guys with a camera. He's actually putting on a gun and going out there..."

"Emily." Sharon laid a hand on her shoulder before she could finish working herself up again. "These are the risks that we take. We've discussed this. I know that the first time is never easy, but Buzz was right. He wasn't hurt badly, from the sound of it, and this kind of thing is actually fairly common. He will learn from it. I understand your concerns, but-"

"I'm late." Emily closed her eyes as she said the words. A tremor of fear worked its way through her. This was not at all what they had discussed or she had expected. Quite the opposite really. She had been denying it for a few days now, putting it off as stress or physical exertion, but even at the height of her most strenuous dancing, she had never been this far off schedule.

Even in the dim lighting on the porch she could see Emily's face pale. Sharon felt her own chest tighten and her stomach flip in response to those words. This was not what she was ready to hear. She drew a breath and swallowed hard while she considered her next words, very carefully. Sharon stepped closer to her daughter so that their shoulders were touching as they both leaned against the deck rail. "I take it that you have not exactly explored the reason for that yet?"

"No." Emily stared at the wooden deck planks beneath them. "It's happened before, but never for this long, and not when I was with someone. I was going to put it off as stress, but seeing him injured like that... it just forced me to consider the possibility that it's not stress. I don't know if I want that life. I've never ruled out, completely, the idea of having a kid or two someday, but I'm not ready to stop dancing yet. That's another topic of conversation altogether. What I don't know if I can live with is the idea of waiting at home for someone to tell me that kid's father isn't coming back."

"You cannot live your life waiting for a future that might never come," Sharon pointed out. She wrapped an arm around her daughter again and pulled her close. "Emily, I can't tell you that everything would work out, but I can tell you that the only way to face that situation is one day at a time. Yes, this job is dangerous, and there are risks, but we are trained to handle them." She reached up and swept a lock of hair behind Emily's ear. "Darling, don't you think that you should know if there is something to worry about before you get too deep into those worries? I'm not saying that you and Buzz shouldn't have this conversation as it pertains to the future, but for the present..." If Emily was pregnant than she should know it, and there would need to be many conversations and decisions made.

Emily chewed on the corner of her bottom lip. She looked up at her mother before sighing. "It really could be stress," she said, and tried to sound convincing. "I am dancing harder than I ever have before, and we are really promoting this show. I'm headlining, but I'm doing it at home, so it just feels…" She stopped and shook her head. "I doubt very much that it is an issue, but I had to think about the rest, and that just made me wonder what I'm doing. Besides," she added with a shrug, "I have an IUD."

Sharon straightened. "When did you get an IUD?" This was not something that her girl had mentioned before. "Emily!"

"What?" She pushed away from the rail. She flung her hands in frustration. "My metabolism was fluctuating too much while I was on the pill. I needed something that wasn't going to send my diet out of control trying to keep my weight where it should be." As a dancer she was all too aware of the dangers of not eating properly. She had seen too many girls during her years of training and professional dancing have to stop because of eating disorders. Emily had always been a healthy eater, but her physician had a hard time finding a birth control pill that had not affected her metabolism. The IUD had seemed the right solution. No, she had not talked to her mother about it. Her liberal but still very Catholic mother.

"You couldn't have told me _that_ ," Sharon replied. She sighed. "Emily..." After a moment she decided to let it go. It wasn't important now, but she did feel the need to explain one thing. "I am not your grandmother, Emily. These are things that we can discuss. Believe me, I understand." She had gotten pregnant twice without trying and at a time in her life when she had not expected to have children, although they had never been unwanted. Sharon closed her eyes for a moment and shook her head. A smile curved her lips. "Good god, that was how I ended up marrying your father."

"Wait." Emily's eyes widened. "What?" This was definitely not something that was ever mentioned before. She quickly did the math but it didn't add up. "How is that?" She had come along the year _after_ they were married. "I didn't know you were pregnant before me?"

"I wasn't." Sharon rolled her eyes. She waved a hand through the air. "It ended up being a false alarm, but Jack proposed while we were waiting to find out. Afterward, he told me that it made him realize how much he wanted to marry me. It all seemed so sweet and romantic that we went ahead." She shrugged. "Then I got pregnant with you. Unexpected but not unwanted. I was terrified. My situation was a little different though." She reached up and cupped her daughter's cheek. "I won't tell you that things have a way of happening when and how they are meant to, but I will say that I think that you are stronger than you know."

Emily moved into her arms, wanting nothing more than to just be held. She laid her head on her mother's shoulder. "I don't know what to do," she said quietly.

"You will." Sharon stroked her hair. "But there's a little something that you need to do first."

She groaned. "Oh god. How embarrassing. Can we do it at your place?"

Sharon chuckled quietly. "Of course. Come on." She nudged her girl. Sharon stepped away from her but took her hand. "I'll tell Andy that we're going. You will have your answer tonight." She was tempted to shake her head. This was something that one usually did with their girlfriends, or their sisters. She was reminded, though, that none of Emily's girlfriends were in Los Angeles and she didn't have any sisters. Although, Sharon reminded herself that while she had Maureen to hold her hand each time that she thought she was pregnant, it was not something that she would have gone to her mother about. She felt... a bit relieved, and delighted that Emily sought her out, that Emily knew that she _could_ seek her out for this.

Perhaps, Sharon realized, she had created the relationship with her daughter that she wanted the two of them to have. At least, they were certainly about to find out...

 **-TBC-**


	10. Chapter 10

**Leaping In**

 **by Kadi**

 **Rated T**

 **Disclaimer:** This is not my sandbox, this is just my favorite place to play. I promise to put all of the toys back when I'm done.

* * *

 **Chapter 10**

Rusty didn't know what to expect when he got home. He was just getting ready to leave the library and his evening study group when Sharon sent him a text and asked if he was already at home. With the Fall semester now in session he was interning less at the PAB and spending more time studying. He had answered in the negative, to which she told him to delay a couple of hours if he could… go to a movie or hang out with friends. That might have seemed odd to anyone else, but they had a deal.

When she first began dating Flynn he made her promise him that if they were ever going to be at the condo _together_ that she give him a heads up if she thought they might be… _together_. There were some things that he just didn't need to be aware of. Although it had made for a rather embarrassing conversation at the time, for both of them, she had agreed to it. Then she had asked him to do the same for her.

Despite all of that Rusty had replied to her text message with a simple, but heartfelt _EW!_ It had only taken Sharon a few moments to reply. She told him that she was with Emily and they needed some _girl time_. Rusty had no idea what that meant or if he even wanted to know. That conversation had taken place three hours before. Now he was out of ways in which to delay his homecoming, so he had given up on it.

He stepped into the condo with a good deal of trepidation and looked around carefully as he dropped his keys and slipped his book bag off his shoulder. Rusty placed the bag on the chair nearest the hall and stepped further into the condo. His brows climbed into his hairline. There was an empty bottle of wine on the coffee table and another one that was about half empty. He stared at the two women who were sitting slumped, nearly empty glasses in their hands.

"Is something wrong?" Rusty looked between them and the two bottles. Sharon had pulled out the red; she only went for that on _really_ bad days.

"We're… celebrating." Emily's lips pursed. "Possibly commiserating. We haven't decided yet." She pushed herself up on the sofa and leaned forward. Her hand wrapped around the neck of the wine bottle and she lifted it. "Want some?"

"Emily!" Sharon reached over and took it from her. "Rusty doesn't drink." She topped off her glass before placing the bottle back on the coffee table.

"And he's too young," the teenager added. Rusty was trying to decide if he was amused or disturbed by the two tipsy women. "Um. I thought you had a date?" he asked of their mother.

Sharon snorted as she leaned back on the sofa again. "Had being the operative word," she drawled. She took a sip of her wine and then sighed. "I am beginning to realize that my boyfriend is an adorable, lovable, and total goofball." Her head rolled across the back of the sofa as she looked at Rusty. "Did we know that already?"

"I think we did," he said slowly. Rusty walked over and picked up the wine bottles. He carried them back into the kitchen where he stored one of them in the fridge and tossed the empty bottle into the trash. "I think you've had enough of this too," he told them.

Emily pouted. "Hey! Let-go-our-vino!"

Rusty snorted quietly. He rejoined them and dropped into one of the chairs near the sofa. "Does Buzz know that you're here?"

"Buzz schmuzz," Emily waived a hand at him. "I don't want to talk about him. Boys are stupid, Rusty. Remember that." She tipped her head back and closed her eyes.

Rusty looked between them again. "Okay," he said at length. "Someone please tell me what is going on?"

"They had a fight." Sharon sat up on the sofa and curled her legs beneath her so that she could pay closer attention to her son. "Mine invited his ex-wife to dinner. On date night."

"Oh." Rusty wasn't sure which was worse. "Um, I'm sorry?"

"Thank you," Sharon smiled warmly at him. "I'll forgive him. His heart was in the right place. Who can compete with the grieving widow?"

Emily looked up at her mother. "I thought we weren't competing. Remember, you had no problem leaving him at his house with her alone. Trust, blah, blah, and whatever else you said." Before her mother could answer she picked up the object on the sofa beside her and showed it to Rusty. "On the upside, I'm not pregnant!"

Rusty tilted his head at her. A frown drew his brows together. "I didn't know that was a concern. So it makes a little bit of sense now, I think. Are we celebrating that you're not pregnant, or commiserating?" He got up a moment later and walked back into the kitchen for a bottle of juice. It seemed like this was going to be a long conversation.

"I'm not sure that celebrating that is exactly appropriate," Emily stated. "I will say that I wasn't ready and the timing is absolutely wrong, so it is a bit of a relief. Had it gone the other way, we wouldn't be commiserating. Does that explain it?"

"Nope." Rusty grinned as he opened the bottle in his hands. "Girls are weird," he decided. He walked back into the living room and sat down again. "What are we celebrating then?"

"That I am not going to be a grandmother." Sharon smirked at him. "I am much too young for that." After another moment she shook her head at him. Like Emily, she would not have commiserated the opposite result. Life was precious, whenever it came along. "No, Emily and I are just making a night of it. The evening was very stressful, although the second bottle of wine might have been a bit much." Her lips pursed while she thought about it, but then she shrugged it off. They had enjoyed themselves. It wasn't often that they were able to be together like this, just the two of them, without any interruptions and an opportunity to discuss practically _everything_ that was going on in their lives.

Rusty stared at her for a moment before he laughed. It had taken him a long time after coming to live with Sharon to understand that she could indulge in a glass or two of wine and still be nothing like his other mother. He couldn't recall having ever seen her tipsy before, but then, she usually didn't have anyone to indulge with. Given the brief description of their evenings, he decided they had earned a few glasses of an expensive red wine. Rusty drew his legs into the chair and rested his chin in his hand. "How bad was the fight?" He asked his sister, although he wasn't sure that he really wanted to know. Rusty tried not to get involved in the relationships around them, his own were complicated enough.

Emily sighed. She leaned forward and placed her now empty wine glass on the coffee table. "It was a decent one. I don't know. I think we'll be okay. Maybe." She leaned back again and closed her eyes. "I still have to tell him about the whole…" She waved a hand toward the coffee table and the discarded, negative pregnancy test. "That."

He had almost no experience in deciphering Emily-speak so Rusty cast a desperate look at Sharon. "What?"

She chuckled quietly. "Buzz came home from his ride-along with a minor injury. Nothing at all that was in any way serious," she was quick to assure him. "Emily was distraught and they argued about his career aspirations with the LAPD. She was worried about him, and what the future might entail for them given…" Sharon waved her hand at the coffee table. "That."

"I still don't see why you were so freaked out about it," Emily said. "Mom, you're almost—"

"No." Sharon said at length. She pointed a finger at her daughter. "Do not say it. We are not disclosing numbers. No matter the exact digits, I am still too young."

"That's what she says now." Emily laughed. She looked at her brother. "A couple of hours ago she was very supportive. If you ever need a full lesson in pregnancy test brand and timing, she's your girl."

"I think I'm good." Rusty shuddered. "I don't even want to know _how_ she knows. Can we please not finish this conversation?"

"Apparently my father has a habit of climbing into her bed when she is least prepared," Emily drawled with a devious smirk.

"Had." Sharon pointed out. "Stop torturing your brother."

"What?" Emily grinned. "If I had to hear it, he has to hear it. Apparently," she continued, "I am not the only one who has had a few close calls. Well, one close call. She's had a few. You would think at some point she would have figured out what was causing those little scare sessions."

"I did," her mother told her. "That is what the spare room was for, and Rusty isn't the one _needing_ to hear this," Sharon reminded her. "That was our little secret anyway." She sniffed at her daughter. "You are loose tongued when you drink. No more _Rioja_ for you," she said of the wine they had been drinking.

A knock at the door had Rusty rising very quickly. "That has to be one of them, and I'm not sure which one I want it to be, but I'm going to go with _Thank God_ anyway," he teased them.

Emily's lips pursed. She looked at her mother. "I begged you for a sister," she reminded her.

"I know." Sharon reached over and gave her knee a comforting pat. "I am sorry, darling."

Rusty was still rolling his eyes when he answered the door. There were two men on the other side. He wasn't entirely sure that was the arrival that he was hoping for. "Oh god."

Andy arched a brow at him. He hooked a thumb at the man beside him. "Look who I found loitering downstairs trying to decide if he should come up or not. Is it safe?"

"Depends on your definition of safe," Rusty told him. He stepped back and waved them in. "Flynn and Buzz are here," he announced.

"You are not allowed to shoot him," Emily told her mother.

A slow, devious smile curved Sharon's lips. "Which one?" She tilted her head and looked beyond her daughter at the two men. Andy didn't look too bad for having spent the evening entertaining his ex-wife. Her gaze slid to Buzz next and that was where it stopped. Her eyes widened. "Emily! You said it was minor!" Sharon rose from the sofa immediately and walked over to get a better look at his face. She took his chin and tipped his head to the side. Already there was a nice bruise along with a cut across his left cheek.

Emily held her hands up and looked at her brother in askance. "How did I just lose control of this situation?"

Rusty jerked his head toward the cameraman. "She plays favorites, but we're not allowed to tell. Meet the favorite. Something about both of them liking rules." He shoved his hands into his pockets and rocked back on his heels.

"It's really okay." Buzz shifted uncomfortably as she studied his injured cheek. Next time he would definitely duck just a little bit faster. "Captain, it isn't a problem. The man we were detaining was intoxicated. The report has already been filed."

Rusty hooked a thumb at him and made a face at his sister. "See?"

"That is not nothing." Sharon took a step back. Her hands found her hips as she glared at him. "Did you even get it treated? It looks horrible." She folded her arms across her chest and scowled at Andy when he smirked at her. "This is not amusing, Lieutenant."

"No it isn't," he agreed. Andy shrugged at her. "But you slipping into protective mode usually is. He's fine, Sharon. He'll learn to get out of the way. It's just a bruised cheek. I would be more impressed if it was a black eye."

"That is not funny!" She glowered at him. Sharon huffed at him and decided that she would deal with him later. Her gaze moved back to Buzz. "I don't want you doing anymore ride-alongs outside of our division. Major Crimes personnel only," she told him.

"What?" Buzz's eyes widened. "Captain—"

"You can't do that." Andy grinned at her. "Not only will it take him forever to finish his practical qualifying if you limit who he can do it with, but… you really will be playing favorites. What do you think people are going to ask when it gets around? Are you doing it because he's part of your team, or because he's dating your daughter?"

Her chin lifted in a show of defiance. "That has absolutely nothing to do with it. I would just feel better if I knew that he had one of our own watching his back."

"Actually," Buzz began, but didn't get the chance to finish as she just kept talking.

"If you think you can do it without getting him into anymore trouble," Sharon said, "I would send you along with him. Since that isn't the best choice, I suppose I can talk to Julio. Amy might have a few free evenings or weekends. If all else fails, I guess I could do it myself…"

"God no." The words were out of Buzz's mouth before he could stop them. He put his hands up immediately. "I just meant that it wouldn't look good. For the same reasons that the Lieutenant mentioned. For the record," he continued quickly, "I was with Amy tonight. The man was intoxicated _and_ he didn't like women. He became extremely agitated when Amy explained that we were going to arrest him." He pointed at his cheek. "He was aiming for her."

"Oh." Sharon deflated immediately. She nodded. "Okay then." She turned around and walked back to the sofa. She picked up her wine glass and reclaimed her seat. "We will talk about the rest another time," she told him.

Buzz shared a look with the Lieutenant. They both shook their heads. "Do we ask how much of that they've had?" He nodded to their wine glasses.

"Nope." Andy shoved his hands into his pockets. "She's drinking red. You really don't want to ask."

"Red is for the really difficult days," Rusty explained. He grinned. "Good luck."

His brows rose. "I'm not sure that I like the sound of that." Buzz cast a pensive look at the two women. They were both staring at him. It was a little unnerving. He had never thought of Emily as being particularly like her mother before. Yes, there were some aspects of her personality that were familiar, but for the most part she was very different. "Can we go home and talk?" He asked carefully.

It seemed that the interlude was over. It was time to become a responsible adult again. Emily sighed as she stood up. "Let's go." She didn't go to the door, however. Instead she took the item on the coffee table that they needed to discuss and walked toward the balcony doors.

Sharon watched them both go. After the door was closed behind them she leaned her head back and groaned. "This was not how this night was supposed to go." She felt the sofa shift beside her and slanted a look to her left. "How was dinner with the ex?"

Andy grunted as he reached for her legs. He pulled them around and into his lap. "She missed you." He smirked at her. "I'm pretty sure I should be disturbed by that." It didn't bode well, the two of them getting along. He decided to file it away for further thought later. Andy nodded his head toward her balcony. "What's going on with those two?" She hadn't told him much when she left his house; only that Emily needed her.

"It is an extremely long story," she said, fatigue now filling her tone. "If you run me a bath I'll tell you."

"Oh yuck." Rusty decided it was time for him to leave the room. He grabbed his bag and headed down the hall.

Andy watched him go with a grin. "You did that on purpose."

"I will neither confirm nor deny," she replied. Sharon nudged his thigh with her foot. "Well?"

"I'm thinking about it." He arched a brow at her. There was a sparkle in his dark eyes. "You cut out on our date, so..."

Her jaw dropped open. "What date?" She nudged his thigh again. "You're the one that brought a _date_ to dinner."

He snorted. "That's not funny." Andy pushed her legs off his lap and stood up. "Come on." He took her hand and pulled her to her feet. As he turned her toward the hall he smirked again. "So, should I ask if I'm going to be dating a grandmother or not? I have a reputation you know." There had been wine involved, so he already knew the answer to that. Emily, at least, would not have been indulging with a positive result.

"As a troublemaker." She made a face at him from over her shoulder. "It is _really_ not amusing." She didn't have to ask; he had obviously seen the test as Emily retrieved it. "She's not ready. I'm not ready. No one is ready." She pointed a finger at him. "Stop grinning."

He put his hands up and quickly wiped the smile off his face. "How much wine have you had?" She rarely had more than two, maybe three glasses in a single sitting. If she was with him, she would limit it to just the one, and only if they were having dinner out.

Sharon sighed as she stepped into her room. She walked into the bathroom and made sure that the outside door was locked so that they would not be interrupted. Once again she questioned why she had not moved into a larger condo when Rusty's stay became permanent. It was an idle thought that she quickly pushed away. Sharon shook her head. The wine had relaxed her, left her feeling drowsy, but she wasn't too intoxicated.

"Let's just say," she finally answered him, "Rusty took the second bottle away before we could finish it." Sharon began unbuttoning her blouse while he started the bath to filling. "Emily has always been more like Jack," she told him, "free spirited, determined. She's a dreamer. It seems that she is also very much _mine_." Sharon smiled when he looked up. "She freaked out."

Amusement danced in his eyes. " _You_ don't freak out," he reminded her with a grin. When she rolled her eyes at him, Andy laughed. While the tub filled he rose and stepped over to join her. His arms moved around her waist. "Let me guess, he came home hurt and reality set in. Dating a cop is a little different than being raised by a cop, especially if there might be kids involved."

"Exactly." She let her head fall forward to rest against his chest. "Why is it that our children think that we are clueless? How long have we been doing this?"

He snorted a laugh. "Longer than I want to admit," he said dryly. His hands rested against her shoulders. His thumbs stroked her collarbones and upward, along the side of her neck. "It's not at all possible that we've been through any of this before. They are doing it all for the first time," he explained, sarcasm heavy in his tone.

She hummed. Sharon lifted her head; she tipped it back to smile up at him. "We could not possibly know anything at all about dating," she drawled, "or relationships, or balancing any of that with our careers."

"But who do they run to the minute they get in over their heads?" He shrugged. "What can we do? They're our kids." Not that his really came to him very often. Those were still relationships that he was working on, although they were much better than they had been before.

"Mmhm." Sharon's eyes narrowed. "Unless they are your ex-wife. Then they just pick up the phone and call you so that you can fix everything." She pulled away from him and turned away. Sharon slipped her blouse off and tossed it toward the hamper.

Andy groaned. He scrubbed a hand over his face. "You're not ever going to let me forget that are you?"

"Nope." She shot a grin at him through the heavy curtain of her hair as it fell forward to obscure her face while she worked open her jeans and slid out of them. "I signed on to this to date you," she pointed out, "not your ex-wife." She flung the jeans over onto the hamper to join her blouse and turned to face him again. She pointed her finger at him. "How would you feel if I brought Jack home for dinner one night." When his eyes darkened, Sharon flashed a knowing smile. "Exactly." Her hands found her hips. "I understand that Vicki has been through a lot, and I feel badly for her, I truly do, but between our kids, our jobs, and," Sharon snorted, "your partner, we get little enough time together as it is. Do not get me wrong," she continued, while taking a step toward him, "I love you for wanting to help her, I really do, and I don't mind helping Vicki either, she has been through something that I do not want to even begin to imagine, but..." She trailed off and glared at him. "Not when you are at work. Not when we are on a date, and definitely _not_ while we are laying in bed!" Granted he had only answered his phone that one time, and only because they thought it might be work related; it had been late enough that neither of them had considered looking at the call display. She was fairly certain that next time he would definitely remember to do that.

Andy was staring at the tiled floor between them. He rubbed his lips together and reached up to scratch his thumb across his forehead. His bottom lip jutted out and he cleared his throat. "Sharon." He looked up at her, eyes hooded and dark. He had listened to everything that she had said, but still she had managed to distract him.

She sighed. "Yes?"

He waved a hand at her. She was standing in her underwear and reading him the riot act. The corners of his mouth twitched but he was trying very hard not to grin. He knew that would only dig his hole deeper. "If you keep that up," he managed, voice trembling with humor and barely contained laughter, "you're never going to be able to yell at me on duty again."

Her eyes narrowed. Her lips pursed. Sharon stood there for just a moment longer. The twinkling light in his dark eyes and the way they crinkled at the corners made her shake her head at him. "Okay, you know what..." She walked toward him. Sharon took his arm and turned him. She pushed him toward the door and through it, into her bedroom. "Out. Go on. Shoo!" She reached out and with just a flick of her wrist she closed the door between them. As she turned, she huffed, "Men!"

 **MCMCMCMCMC**

There was a cool breeze on the air. It danced around them as they stood on the balcony, the railing to their backs. They had walked around to the far side, well out of view of the interior of the condo. Where they stood they could see the sparkling lights of the city, while behind them the hills of Griffith Park were cloaked in darkness and barely visible. The silence between them hung heavily on the air. Emily tucked a lock of hair behind her ear while she waited. She had said all that she thought that she needed to, at least for the moment.

She had not expected to feel as she had, to be so deeply rattled by the reality that he was choosing to pursue a career that could get him seriously injured, or worse. Emily believed that she was prepared for that, given how much longer her mother had been doing it. When faced with the possibility of children and an actual life where their situation was permanent, and not something temporary, she had to question what it was that she truly wanted from this relationship and whether or not she could really picture it continuing beyond this extended visit home.

For the first time she was carrying an entire show, and as excited as she was for that, Emily had been thinking about what was going to happen after it was over for longer than just the last few days. The show was opening in just another week, and she was only scheduled to be in Los Angeles for another few weeks during its run. Once it was over, she was meant to return to New York, and for the first time she found herself questioning whether she truly wanted to. She had not been home for any visit that lasted longer than a week since she graduated from college and made the move to New York. She thought of her Manhattan apartment and all the things about the city that she loved, the shows and the museums, the restaurants and the shopping. She loved Central Park in winter, and the changing of the leaves in the fall was always her favorite time of year. There was none of that in Los Angeles.

At home she had Rodeo Drive and Santa Monica. There were sunny days and golden beaches. She could go jogging on the beach or hiking in the hills. They had movie premieres and trendy, hip restaurants. Most importantly, her family was here. Ricky was only an hour away, if he flew, or six hours by car. She was getting to know Rusty better, and understanding more and more why her mother had adopted him. He was really beginning to feel like he was her brother now. Her grandparents were just up the coast, although she hadn't visited them since being home. Emily felt badly about that, but her schedule had been fairly busy with rehearsals and show promotion. And Buzz. Her schedule had been very busy with Buzz too. She sighed. Los Angeles also had something else that she missed terribly when she was in New York. Her mother was near enough for her to run to when she had a problem.

How easy had it been to find her? To step into those arms and hear that everything would be okay? How wonderful was it to spend a Saturday afternoon shopping together, or a Sunday morning at brunch? She was getting to know her as an adult in ways that she never had as a girl. Yes, when she was in New York her mother was only a phone call away if she needed her, but she would not have had her to hold her hand through an evening like this one. Or to uncork a bottle of wine while they both sought a relief to the tension that had filled them. To sit and talk and try to untangle all of the things that seemed to be jumbled in her mind. They were both at similar crossroads in their romantic lives. Emily felt like she was just starting, while her mother was starting over.

It made it easier to stand on the balcony and repeat all of it. Emily sighed. Her hands were clasped in front of her. She studied the tiled flooring of the balcony. He was being entirely too silent. Emily had told him everything, from questioning her geographical location to that evening's freak-out and the reason behind it. He had gone silent while he listened, and she knew that he was thinking. The longer he thought about all of it, however, the more worried she became.

She pushed away from the railing and folded her arms across her chest. Emily faced him. Her head tilted expectantly. "Are you going to say anything?"

He looked up at her slowly. "I'm sorry," he managed. "I was being thankful that your mother didn't shoot me." The bland look that she shot him before she turned away provoked him to action. He reached out and caught her arm before she could get too far. Buzz pulled her back and wrapped his arms around her from behind. The sarcasm might have been a little too much in that situation, but he was being honest about it. "I'm sorry," he said again. "Why didn't you say something before?" That was the most pressing question on his mind. "How long have you been thinking about all of this?"

Emily leaned her head back against his shoulder. He was warm, and not for the first time, she realized she was quite comfortable standing with him like that. "Since the billboard went up down on Sunset. My mother has said before that my dancing could go farther here, but it wasn't New York. It wasn't culture and artistry. Yes, I have a couple of posters in the theater district back there, but it isn't quite the same thing. It isn't my hometown for one. There is a lot of competition there too." Emily sighed again. "That all sounds incredibly vain doesn't it? There are a few dance companies here. The Los Angeles Ballet is new, it's just starting, and the company has only been open for about a decade. Or there's San Francisco," she added. "It's close, barely skipping distance compared to New York. I could easily get a contract at either, I'm sure. The companies out here are always looking for New York trained dancers. I could stay."

"Is that what you _want_ to do," he asked carefully. It needed to be about more than him and their relationship. Buzz didn't want her to have any regrets if she gave up the life that she seemed to love in New York. If she made the decision to stay in Los Angeles on a permanent basis, it had to be because she wanted to. He didn't want it to be because of _him_. "I'm not saying it isn't going to be hard," He continued, "but I'm good with long distance. If New York is where you want to be..."

"Bi-coastal isn't a permanent solution." Emily said. She turned in his arms and laid her hands against his chest. She tugged playfully at his sweater. Sometimes he looked like he had just stepped out of The Gap, or a Ralph Lauren ad. "Eventually one of us is going to have to decide whether we are willing to move or if this relationship has to end."

"But we don't have to decide that now," he told her. It was all still very new. He didn't want either one of them to leap without fully thinking it through. He was crazy about her, but they both had dreams. He didn't want to see either of them give that up. Buzz said as much. "Your dancing is important to you, Emily. You've worked hard to get where you are."

"Yes I have," she agreed, "but your work is here. We almost didn't have a choice in making this decision now," she reminded him. "It needs to be discussed. Yes, I love New York, but I can dance anywhere."

"You don't want to," he said quietly. "How many times have you said that New York is the city of your heart? That is where you want to be. It's okay," he promised her with a grin. "I am not going to ask you to move home. If this is where you want to be, I'd love it, but you don't. You know that you don't. Your heart is still in New York."

"What if it isn't?" She leaned into him. "What if it's right here?"

The breeze lifted a lock of hair and blew it across her face. Buzz swept it back. His thumb traced the curve of her cheek. "What if you are still reacting," he pointed out, "and not deciding?" His other hand rested against her hip. He shook his head. "When the show is over, go back to New York," he said. "If you hate it there, then you'll know. If you don't..." He shrugged, she would still know.

He had a point. As much as the thought of leaving made her ache, she didn't want to regret giving up that life anymore than he wanted her to. A small smile curved her lips. Emily tugged at his sweater again. "You're awfully full of yourself, aren't you? It's not just about you, you know. My family is here too."

"Your family has always been here," He teased. "I'm new."

Emily laughed. She still wasn't clear on whether or not she wanted to go back to New York, but there was some relief in knowing that he would support either decision. It had to be hers, though, on that she was in complete agreement. She slipped her arms around his neck. "Maybe I'm worried about my mother," she said. "This dating thing is hard. Especially when you're also dating your boyfriend's ex-wife."

Buzz frowned. A confused look crossed his face. "What do you mean? The Lieutenant has never gotten along with his ex-wife, at least not very well." He recalled each of the stories he had heard in the past and they had never given him a very good opinion of the woman, although he supposed they were not supposed to.

"Apparently that changed when her husband died," Emily explained. "Everyone is trying to be very supportive," she told him, "but the more supportive they are, it feels like the more needy she becomes."

It sounded as if that evening's talk with her mother had been about more than just Emily's problems. Buzz's brows rose. There was laughter in his blue eyes. "What did he do?" Experience had taught him that if something had gone wrong then it was definitely the Lieutenant who was at fault.

"Well..." A grin curved across her lips. Emily stepped back with him, but took his hand and pulled him toward the condo. The night was growing cooler and they really should go. As they stepped inside she repeated the story that her mother had shared with her.

 **-TBC-**


	11. Chapter 11

**Leaping In**

 **by Kadi**

 **Rated T**

 **Disclaimer:** This is not my sandbox, this is just my favorite place to play. I promise to put all of the toys back when I'm done.

* * *

 **Chapter 11**

She had experienced dozens of opening nights, but none quite so terrifying as this one. As exciting as it was, Emily had also been filled with anxiety as she went on stage in her first, true, lead performance. Now, with the last curtain behind her and her costume carefully removed, the thunder of applause was still ringing in her ears. She was smiling brightly as she surveyed her small dressing room. There were several bouquets of flowers, delivered before and during the performance and covering almost every surface.

She knew without looking at the card that the pink roses were from her mother. It was a tradition that began with her very first recital. She received them now at the opening of every show that she took part in. Her mother had them delivered in New York, a reminder that she was with her, even if she couldn't be there to watch her perform. There was a spray of white roses from her grandparents. They didn't travel much anymore, but they had remembered that tonight was important to her. Her performance was recorded for the company; Emily would send them a copy of it. The two smaller bouquets were from her brothers, and Emily knew that was most likely her mother's doing too.

She didn't know which had filled her with the most delight. The cheerful daisies that her father delivered before she went on stage, or the deep crimson of the two dozen red roses that held a prominent spot in the center of her dressing table. Emily tugged a single rose from the vase and lifted it to inhale. Her eyes closed as a smile curved her lips. She decided that they were definitely her favorite.

A knock at the door had her turning. "Come in." Her mother stepped inside and Emily's eyes lit, their hazel depths almost green. "Well?"

Her eyes were shining brightly; there was pride in the tears that she blinked back. "Beautiful." She held out her arms and gathered her girl close. Sharon held her close. "You were amazing," she told her. Sharon drew back and cupped her face in her hands. "How did it feel?"

A delighted bubble of laughter rose out of her. "Amazing." Emily smiled widely. She watched as her mother's gaze was drawn to the daisies. They stood out amongst all of the roses. Her smile softened. "Dad was here. He brought them by before finding his seat." She had sent the tickets to his office, but hadn't really expected that he would come. She was pleased that he had. "He said that he knew that you would want to see me after," Emily explained. "He didn't want there to be any tension tonight." It hadn't been so long ago that he had gotten into an argument with her mother and Andy, primarily Andy, that had left her mother angry at both men.

Emily had agreed that he was in the wrong, and that some of the things that he said were cruel and unnecessary. In that situation she was more pleased that her mother's boyfriend had come to her defense than she was at the fact that her father obviously still felt enough for her mother to be jealous and upset. The truth was Emily felt bad for her father. He realized much too late what he lost. He was still her father, however, and even when she was angry and disappointed in him she loved him. Even when she didn't fully trust him, she wanted him to be part of her life. She was just wary. He was trying, but it frightened her a little, even as much as it delighted her.

"I'm glad that he made it." Sharon was surprised, but tried to hide it. She hugged her daughter again, but let her gaze linger on the daisies for a few more moments. They were cheerful and bright and everything that Emily had been as a very small girl. Jack had always bought their daughter daisies, beginning with the day that she was born. She shook her head as she drew back again; her smile was more genuine. She shouldn't be surprised that he had come. He was doing better, and he was trying. She would never fully trust him again but there was no reason that Emily should feel the same. "You should call him," she said. "He can join us," she offered. She and the boys, along with Andy and Buzz were taking Emily out to celebrate her opening night. It would be awkward, but the evening was about Emily. They could manage for a few hours. She would pull Andy aside and remind him that the evening was about Emily. It would test his patience, but she was sure that he could manage. He loved her enough that she knew he would give it his best shot, and that was all that she could really ask of him.

Emily thought about it for a moment. She was almost tempted to do just that, but shook her head. "No," she said, "Dad and I can celebrate another night. It was okay, really. He was fine. I'm just really happy that he was here."

"So am I." Sharon smiled warmly at her. "Really, I am. He's...well..." She rolled her eyes and offered a shrug. It was what it was. They would always be connected through their children but the situation was still difficult. There was still a lot of hurt between them. Twenty years of separation had not done much to lessen the pain of divorce, especially with his loss of sobriety following it. Sharon decided to change the subject. "You're not even dressed yet. You should hurry. We have reservations." She moved around Emily to get a better look at the red roses that seemed to put the others to shame. She cast a teasing smile at her daughter. "Do I even need to look at the card?"

"No, but I think you want to anyway." Emily walked over and took down the dress she had hanging on the back of the door. "He definitely earned major points tonight. I would tell you that there is going to be something in the way of a serious thank you later, but..." She watched her mother shudder and laughed. "There is the response that I knew I would get."

"You are a horribly rotten child." Sharon tucked the card back into the roses, but her eyes were still sparkling. The note was brief, but incredibly sweet. She was still in a peculiar position of wanting to be delighted but also feeling awkward. He worked for her. Rusty kept reminding her that he was _just Buzz_ , but that just wasn't the case anymore. One day, if he became a parent, he might just understand her dilemma.

Emily laughed again as she changed into the dress. "Well, I only learned from the best." She glanced at her mother from over her shoulder. "You still haven't told me where we are going."

"That is because it is a surprise, my darling." She clasped her hands in front of her. Sharon tilted her head and when Emily waved her over, she moved behind her to tug the zipper of her dress up. "You have been asking for a week, I will tell you what I have told you since Monday. You will find out-"

"When we get there." Emily groaned. "You and your sense of occasion," she remarked. "Did it occur to you that I might just want to take Buzz home and-" She squeaked when her mother pinched her side. "Point taken."

"I thought as much." Sharon turned away from her. She would only let the three of them push her so far with their teasing. She took a seat on one of the chairs near the dressing table and waited as her daughter finished getting ready. "Andy mentioned that you sent Nicole tickets for Saturday. You didn't tell me that you were going to do that."

Emily shrugged as she took the pins out of her hair. It was still in the tight bun that she had worn on stage. "You've mentioned more than once that her stepsons dance. I thought they might enjoy seeing it, and the matinee is in the afternoon." She found her mother's gaze in the mirror's reflection and winked at her. "I might have also sent along an extra ticket for a certain new best friend of yours too," she added. "If you aren't working Saturday..."

Sharon blinked at her daughter. A smile slowly curved her lips. Vicki would be occupied spending time with Nicole and her family; she wouldn't have the opportunity to call, although in the last week she had been better. Andy had explained the morning following their interrupted date that he had a long talk with his ex-wife over dinner. He promised that it had not turned into a shouting match. The result was that she was spending more time speaking to her therapist or on her own, and less time relying upon them. Not that they wouldn't still be there for her, of course.

"I think," Sharon decided, "that you are now my favorite."

"Ha!" Emily leaned over and kissed her cheek. "No, Rusty is the favorite. He's the youngest."

Sharon rolled her eyes as she stood. She loved each of them equally, but she wouldn't deny that he required more of her attention. She smoothed out the form-fitting blue dress that she was wearing and arched a brow at her daughter. "Are we ready?"

There was another knock at the door. Emily chuckled. "I certainly hope so. I bet the boys are starving." She glanced in the mirror just once more time and fluffed out her hair. With a nod she walked over and pulled the door open. Her brows lifted in surprise. "It's for you."

Andy leaned against the doorframe. He held up his phone and gave them both an apologetic look. "I'm going to have to go."

"No." Sharon's smile slowly faded. That was the price that they paid for the jobs that they enjoyed. She had hoped that they would be able to slip through this one night without any interruptions. "Where?"

"Holmby Hills." He arched a brow at her. "Sound familiar?" He pushed away from the door and straightened where he stood. "Two blocks over from the Hollings home."

"Really?" Sharon folded her arms across her chest. "That is a coincidence." It was something that neither of them truly believed in when it came to their work. "Send the details to my phone."

"We don't need you yet," he told her. "You can go with Emily, we'll check it out and call you when we know what's going on." That was usually how they handled things. Unlike the Chief before her, Sharon didn't feel the need to be involved in every single aspect of their cases. She trusted them to do their jobs. As much as she liked every situation to be controlled, she could delegate quite well. Andy glanced at the girl that had moved to stand beside her mother. They were both wearing blue, but Emily was in a pastel shade, where Sharon gone for bold, jewel tones. He smiled sadly at her. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to take Buzz with me."

While she was a little saddened that her mother was losing her date for the evening, and she honestly was beginning to enjoy getting to know the Lieutenant, Emily's face fell at that news. "Do you have to?" She turned to her mother, "couldn't someone else fill in? Just for tonight. Mom, anyone can run a camera, right?"

Sharon laid a hand on her shoulder and let it slide down her arm. She offered a sympathetic smile. "I'm afraid not, Emily. My division has been called out; Buzz needs to go with them. As much as I might like to, I cannot extend him a pass because he has plans with you tonight. I'm sorry sweetheart."

"It's opening night," Emily reminded her. "It's my first big show… I don't believe this." She pushed past the Lieutenant and went in search of her boyfriend. The least she could do was say goodbye before he had to leave her.

Andy grimaced as she left. "That's something she's going to have to get used to."

"Unfortunately." She joined him at the door. When his arm circled her waist she leaned into him. "Sometimes I wonder if we have been doing this for too long. "

The sadness in her eyes had him tipping her chin up. "I don't think so. It still bothers you when you have to leave or cancel your plans with the kids. If it didn't, I would worry."

She hummed in response. He was right. She hated having to cancel on them or being pulled away unexpectedly. There were times when she really just wanted to be selfish, to bend the rules just a bit, and give herself a little more time with her family. There was even a small part of her that was almost tempted to have someone from SID fill in for Buzz, but she knew that she couldn't. For the same reason that she never gave in to the temptation to do it for herself; it simply wasn't in her to skirt the system. "What about you?" She asked.

A small grin appeared. His eyes swept down her form. "You look really great tonight." He dropped a kiss to her smiling lips before stepping away. It bothered him, just as much as it did her, or any of their colleagues. He had really looked forward to spending the evening with her, and her kids. It was really the first time that they would have been together as a couple with all of them together. They would have the opportunity again. "I'll call you," he said.

Sharon leaned against the doorframe with a smile. "That's what they all say," she simpered teasingly. He rolled his eyes at her but waved as he walked away. She sighed softly as he disappeared from view. After another moment she moved back into the dressing room to gather her clutch and Emily's purse. Now to go in search of her daughter, and with any luck, to manage somehow to cheer her up; Sharon winced as a single thought crossed her mind. There was one way in which she might just manage that.

With another sigh she pulled her phone out of her clutch and dialed a familiar number. "Jack." She forced herself to sound pleasant. "The boys and I are taking Emily out for dinner. I think she would like it if you joined us…"

 **MCMCMCMCMCMC**

The rest of their division was already on scene when Andy and Buzz rolled up in the latter's car. Since Buzz usually kept his camera equipment in the car, for just this kind of situation, they had left Andy's car behind with Sharon. The Lieutenant spent most of the ride into Holmby Hills teasing Buzz about the fact that his girlfriend had taken over his car. From the floral scent that lingered, an expensive perfume that had Emily Raydor written all over it, to the programmed music selections, it was obvious that he was no longer the primary driver.

By the time they had reached their destination Buzz had to remind himself every few minutes that tossing the older man out of his car would not be appropriate. While cataloguing his reasons he realized he was faced with the trifecta. For one, he was outranked. It wouldn't do his career any good. Not to mention the fact that the Lieutenant had a heck of a temper. Flynn in a bad mood was not someone he wanted to deal with. Secondly, the Lieutenant happened to be his boss's boyfriend. He didn't imagine the Captain would exactly be thinking about that when she was disciplining him for his actions, but it didn't hurt to keep it in mind. Finally, there was also the fact that the other man was dating his girlfriend's mother. In short, he was screwed.

Buzz was so ready to be out of the car when they arrived that he practically tossed his camera onto his shoulder. He looked around and strode quickly toward Lieutenant Provenza. "Please tell me there is a body somewhere."

"Oh ho!" The Lieutenant took a step back and gave the younger man a once over. "Aren't you all prettied up, Buzz. Big night?" He smirked. They all knew that it was opening night and that he had been called away. He obviously hadn't had time to change out of his nice suit. The way that Buzz looked heavenward and the smirk that was on his partner's face as he joined them made him grin. "Tao is with the body. Go find them. They're over there somewhere," he waved in that general direction.

"Thank you." Buzz scowled at both men before hurrying away.

Provenza watched him go. He shook his head as he turned back to his partner. "So, nice night for a drive?"

"Not bad." Flynn nodded. "Nice little car too. Maybe I'll get one." He shoved his hands into his pockets and rocked back on his heels. He jerked his head toward the house behind them. "What did we catch this time?"

"Donald Owen," Provenza said, "age fifty-two. Shot to death in his backyard. The wife called it in. She found him. Amy and Julio are with her right now. She hasn't made a lot of sense, too hysteric. They're going to get her calmed down and take her downtown. We'll talk to her there." He tapped his notepad against his palm. "How was the ballet?"

Andy shrugged. "Not bad. You'll like it." When his partner snorted he grinned. "Okay, Patrice will like it, but it really wasn't awful. The kid did real good. You managed to get us _after_ it was over. Thanks for that by the way." It looked like they had been on scene for a little while. His partner had obviously stalled for as long as he could. "I told Sharon we'd call her when we needed her. They were taking Emily out to celebrate."

Provenza's brows rose when Flynn scowled. Suddenly the other man was no longer pleased with the way the evening had gone. "Do I want to know?" He tried, very hard, not to get involved in their personal relationship. It was difficult sometimes, considering the fact that they had been friends for so damned long.

"Jack." Andy rolled his eyes. "Emily was obviously upset that Buzz got called away, tonight of all nights. Since Jack showed up and was apparently behaving himself for the performance, she invited him to join them for dinner. So my girlfriend is out to celebrate with her ex-husband and their kids." It shouldn't bother him, and it wasn't that he didn't trust her, god only knew he had been spending a lot of time with Vicki lately, but he didn't trust Jack. That was the difference. Vicki was grieving and needing a support system. Jack was an ass that had hurt Sharon time and again and he didn't trust him to not repeat that cycle now.

"Ah." Provenza nodded slowly. That did not bode well for her mood later. "I see." He shrugged. "Well, suck it up. Nothing you can do about it now. She's put up with yours, now you can put up with hers." He waved him toward the house where the others and SID were waiting. "Let's get to work. We don't have all night. Another murder in this neighborhood is going to bring the heat." That was the last thing that they needed after Martin Hollings release a few weeks before.

Flynn followed his partner around to the back of the sprawling home that belonged to the Owens. Like the Hollings estate it was upscale and well laid out. Kendall was already with the body, as were Tao and Buzz, the latter of which was now filming the scene. The SID techs were milling around, looking for evidence while uniformed officers filled the back yard. He nodded to Tao as they approached. "What do we think happened?"

"Kendall identified two gunshots," the Lieutenant replied. Tao pointed at the body. The victim was laying face down. There was one gunshot to the back. He helped Kendall to roll him and revealed the second gunshot, a stomach wound. "We believe that Mister Owen was shot once from the front, and then it looks like he tried to flee toward the house. He was shot a second time from behind."

"Finished him off," Andy said, brows rising. "Once, okay, crime of passion, accident, whatever. Twice? That's intent. While he's trying to get away? Now we're talking about a nut job." He shoved his hands into his pockets and shook his head at the body. "What about the wife? Did she hear anything?"

"All Amy could get out of her," Provenza replied, "was that she heard a loud bang. She came downstairs to check and found the husband. She didn't see anyone. It seems like they had just gotten home. Neighbors confirmed that the Owens usually go out to dinner this time of the week." He rolled his eyes. "It's the usual story. They're a nice couple, well to do, how could something like this happen in _this_ neighborhood."

"Again," Tao said, finishing the thought that they were all having.

"You will not believe who showed up out front." Julio strode toward them. He stopped near the group. "We finally got the wife calmed down enough to go downtown and Mister Hollings showed up. He's ranting about some psychopath being loose and obviously whoever just killed Mister Owen has to be the same creep that killed his wife. He wants to know if we're going to let the psycho get away again. Now the media is showing up."

"Oh great." Andy rolled his eyes heavenward. "That is just what we need. That dirt bag probably did both of them." He continued to shake his head and sighed. "You know what this means?" He asked his partner.

"Yeah, I know." Provenza scowled. "That doesn't mean I want to do it." He jerked his hat off his head and shoved it into his pocket. "Crap!"

"Well one of us has to call her," Andy pointed out. "The sooner the better."

"Don't try to sound like you aren't itching to do it." The Lieutenant rolled his eyes. "You were looking for an excuse to get her away from that dinner. Go on, call her up."

"Oh no." Andy shook his head. "You're the incident commander. I just got here. She's going to want details and you've got them."

Tao watched them bicker back and forth for just a moment longer before he stood up. "Oh for crying out loud. I will call the Captain," he announced. He pulled out his phone as he walked away. "You call yourselves senior detectives."

They watched him walk away, the phone to his ear. Andy rocked back on his heels. "Works every time."

"Like a charm." Provenza nodded.

Julio snorted a laugh. "Sirs, that was terrible. Well played, but terrible."

Andy slapped him on the shoulder and walked away to see where SID was with gathering evidence. "Keeps us out of trouble," he called back.

"He couldn't stay out of trouble if he changed his name to _Rulebook_ ," Buzz muttered darkly.

By the time that the Captain arrived, just over half an hour later, the media presence on the street in front of the Owens home had increased, and despite the uniformed presence, spectators had come out to watch the show. She moved at a quick pace up the driveway and folded smoothly beneath the crime scene tape when she approached it. Uniformed officers who had taken up position inside the house directed her to the back of the estate.

Her heels clicked against the granite walkway as she stepped out onto the patio. Sharon's eyes quickly scanned the expanse of the yard. The body had already been removed, it seemed, and would be on its way to the morgue. She did quickly identify her people, with the exceptions of Detectives Sykes and Sanchez. They were standing in a group to one side of the yard. Martin Hollings was standing with two uniformed officers several feet away. It was immediately obvious to her that he was being _watched_.

"Gentlemen," the Captain spoke in a clipped tone as she approached the Lieutenants, "do tell me that you have a very good reason for pulling me out here this evening?" The attitude was for Hollings benefit, as it became readily apparent to her that he was hanging on every word and action.

Andy knew that she had come directly from the restaurant downtown. She hadn't bothered to change; there hadn't been time or opportunity. Her beige jacket was pulled closed at least, and the sash tied. "Captain." He walked around to stand beside her. "The husband of one of our past victims was making a scene." He jerked his head toward where Hollings stood. "He was saying things like _serial killer_ and _preying on the rich_ where the press could hear. There was plenty of crap about LAPD incompetence thrown in too. We thought you'd like to come down and smooth over the situation before Chief Taylor got wind of it."

"I see." She looked around at all of them. "Has Mister Hollings been questioned at all? I find it interesting he just happened to show up at the scene of another murder."

"He only lives a few blocks over," Tao explained. "He heard about what happened and came over to see it for himself. He was concerned, given what happened to his wife."

"We didn't question him," Provenza pointed out. "He still has that law suit pending against the city for the way he was detained. We asked him, very nicely, to join us away from the prying eyes of the press and all of our friendly onlookers out front. Since this is an open crime scene, it seemed only reasonable that we ask two of our uniformed finest to keep an eye on Mister Hollings. We wouldn't want to end up with any Chain of Custody or evidence tampering issues later, would we Captain?"

He was being overly cooperative, almost simpering in his rule abiding statement. The corners of Sharon's mouth twitched toward a smile. "No, Lieutenant, we wouldn't want that at all." She glanced at Andy beside her when he cleared his throat. She was tempted to nudge him. He was struggling too hard to keep a straight face. "Do you have some problem with adhering to proper regulations, Lieutenant?"

He shook his head. Andy stood just a bit straighter. "Absolutely not Captain." His dark eyes sparkled merrily at her. "I'm a big fan of regulations. I like the rules."

While Provenza snorted and tried to keep from gagging on that statement, Tao made a face at him. "Since when?" He shook his head at the other man. "Captain, what would you like to do about Mister Hollings? If we take him downtown…"

"He can claim that he is once again being detained without provocation," Sharon finished. She slipped her hands into the pockets of her jacket and stood there for a moment, thinking. Her lips pursed. "What we can do is invite Mister Hollings to join us, and when he refuses, as I am sure that he will… we can have a couple of plain clothes officers in place to keep an eye on him. Let's see what he does, or if this all really is a coincidence and he's simply using this tragedy to further divert attention away from the fact that he murdered his wife."

"I'll call Cooper," Provenza suggested. "We can have him put a couple of his people on the Hollings house…"

"Better." Andy snapped his fingers. He looked at each of them. "We've got that bullshit Johnson Rule. Mister Hollings could be in danger. Why use plain-clothes guys? Just assign a couple of officers to keep an eye on him, for his protection. In the meantime, we bring him downtown to keep an eye on him while we put it all in motion. If there really is some psycho, other than himself, going around his neighborhood _preying on the rich_ then he could be a possible next victim. He's made it known now that he knows about the first murder, right? So all he's done is put himself out there as a target. We would only be…" Andy stopped and looked at Sharon. He grinned crookedly as he continued, "following proper procedure and regulation by doing everything in our power to protect him from this maniac."

"That is…" Sharon trailed off while she thought it through. She was looking for any problem that could arise as they implemented that little plan. Her brows lifted as she exchanged looks with the other two men. They were just as curious about the idea as she was, and just as startled by it. "Not a bad idea," she finished after a moment. She nodded at Lieutenant Provenza. "Make it happen. I will have a chat with Mister Hollings and let him know what is going to happen."

Andy huffed quietly. He tossed his hands up at her. "Always the tone of surprise."

"To hear you quoting rules with actual comprehension?" She smirked as she turned. "Absolutely, Lieutenant. I was not aware that you even knew what the rulebook looked like."

"Well," Andy shrugged as he followed her. There was a devious glint in his eyes. "You've been beating me over the head with it for years, something was bound to stick."

Tao and Provenza watched them go. The former just shook his head. "Boggles the mind, doesn't it?" That was still one relationship that Mike couldn't quite fathom, but oddly enough it seemed to work.

"You have no idea," Provenza muttered. The two of them alternated giving him a headache and making him nauseous.

Andy glanced down at Sharon as they made their way across the yard to where Hollings and his uniformed escorts were waiting. "How was Emily when you had to leave?" He asked quietly.

"Not pleased." She cast a sideways look at him and offered a small shrug. "I will take her shopping and make it up to her. We'll do something together, just the two of us. Right now she has her father regaling her with tales of his latest courtroom triumph. The boys are keeping her company." Sharon looked up at him again. "I'm going to owe Rusty for having to abandon him with them, but I think Emily will be okay with her brothers and father. I did promise Rusty that if we need him I would call." Now that he was only interning part-time she didn't feel the need to bring him down to the Murder Room every time that they caught a case.

"It's not quite the same thing, though, is it?" He spoke in a low tone. His hand brushed her arm as they walked. He offered a sympathetic smile. "We'll work something out for her," he promised. He hated calling her away, but the situation had demanded it. "At least we got to see the show," he reminded her.

"We did," Sharon nodded. The evening had not been a complete loss and so salvaging the situation would still be very possible. Emily would get over whatever disappointment that she felt, Sharon had no doubt of that. She shook her hair back and squared her shoulders as they reached Martin Hollings; her professional mask was easily slipped back into place. "Mister Hollings," she spoke pleasantly, "I wasn't expecting to see you."

"Captain Raydor." His hawk-eyed gaze swept over her. He glanced only briefly at the Lieutenant beside her. That was the guard dog, the one who was always near to hand. Martin had done a little more research on her after his release. It seemed these two had more going on than just a professional association, although he chose to keep his knowledge of that to himself for the time being. "When I heard about this senseless and terrible tragedy I was compelled to see what the LAPD was doing to capture the monster responsible."

"So my Lieutenants explained," she said. "I assure you, Mister Hollings, we are doing everything that we can to find the person responsible for the murder of Donald Owen. We are as concerned as you are that a second killing has taken place in this neighborhood." She held up a finger before he could interrupt her. "Further, we are so concerned about this situation that we are as of now providing you with police protection." She affected a small smile and tilted her head while she schooled her features to look suitably worried. "I am afraid that your statements earlier may have given people the idea that you were a witness during your wife's murder. If the same person is responsible for both killings that has put you in a precarious situation." Sharon shrugged helplessly. "We would be remiss to overlook that."

Martin stared at her for several moments. He had not expected this. His gaze moved between her and the Lieutenant before he shook his head. "Captain, I will not be made a prisoner. The LAPD has intruded upon my life enough."

"Still," Sharon said, "there are certain regulations at play here. We have to provide you with an escort, and we have to see to your safety. It just isn't avoidable. What I am going to need you to do is go with these officers," She waved a hand at them, "they will take you downtown and keep you safe while we arrange a more official security detail. Don't worry, we will make sure that everyone is aware that you are cooperating fully and that this situation is just a formality."

He stuttered and attempted to protest but there was no way for Hollings to get out of the escort that he had managed to arrange for himself by showing up at their crime scene. Andy shook his head after the man was led away. "I always love it when the nut jobs do most of my work for me. Now we know exactly where the suspect is."

"Mmhm." Sharon clasped her hands in front of her. "Indeed. I also need to talk to Hobbs. We need to find out how legal it will be to seize evidence during the precautionary search of his house and vehicle." She arched a brow at him. "I wouldn't want to risk that his car has been tampered with or that our _killer_ circled back. Would you?"

"Absolutely not, Captain." Andy rocked back on his heels. "If we can't find a murder weapon here, I think we may know exactly where to look next."

"Indeed." She pointed a finger at him. "You should get on that." Sharon strode away. "I am going back downtown." She had to figure out a way to convince the DDA that they had more than just coincidence to link Martin Hollings to both killings. What they needed was for him to lay their trap for them, and on the off chance that he wasn't involved… baiting the LAPD and impeding a criminal investigation would not look very good when his law suit went before a judge.

This particular suspect might not be nearly as intelligent as he believed. Either way, Sharon was going to find out just how extensive his research into her really was if he thought that she was going to play his game _his_ way.

 **-TBC-**


	12. Chapter 12

**Leaping In**

 **by Kadi**

 **Rated T**

 **Disclaimer:** This is not my sandbox, this is just my favorite place to play. I promise to put all of the toys back when I'm done.

 **A/N:** This chapter is for **alyc96** – she knows why.

* * *

 **Chapter 12**

"Evelyn Owen," Julio said, once the team was gathered back in the murder room. Notes from the case were still going up on the murder board, and it would be morning before they had the autopsy from Morales, but the rest of their investigation was off and running. "Age 49," he continued, bringing them up to date on the victim's wife, who he and Sykes had finally managed to question. "Married to Donald Owen for the last eleven years." It had been more than two hours since the murder and it had taken them almost forty-five minutes to get any information out of the victim's wife. If it was an act, Julio thought, then she was one hell of an actress. She was playing the distraught card like a pro.

"The house and most of the money belongs to Mrs. Owen," Amy picked up, walking around her desk as she spoke. "When the couple married eleven years ago, _her_ kids insisted that they sign a prenuptial agreement. Apparently the money was all inherited from her first husband, also deceased."

"Car accident," Julio said, before anyone could jump on that as a sign of guilt. "He flipped his Mercedes over on Mulholland fifteen years ago." He sat down behind his desk and leaned forward against it while he rolled up his shirtsleeves. "Mrs. Owen's kids were worried that Mr. Owen was only marrying her for the money, so they insisted on the prenup."

"But," Amy said, interrupting with a smile, "when they signed it, it was to the stipulation that if they ever split up, each party would get half of the money, _and_ if either of them was ever caught cheating…"

"The other spouse got the whole thing." Julio finished for her. "In other words, she tried to stick it to her kids for calling bullshit on her new love affair, and I think she stuck it to herself instead."

"Oh my god." Andy slapped the file in his hand against his leg as he groaned. He rolled his eyes. "Don't tell me that's what all of this is about?" He waved a hand at the murder board. "Hollings is doing the vic's wife, so first they get rid of _his_ wife. Then they wait a little while, but not too long, and then they get rid of her husband? Now what? We spend all our time looking for a maniac that doesn't exist while they live happily ever after?"

Provenza leaned back in his chair. He suddenly looked incredibly disappointed. "It's a sign that we've been doing this too long when the really smart murder suddenly turns just as stupid as all of the others." He waved a hand at the murder board as he looked at the Captain. "Whatever happened to good, old fashioned psychopathy? Why does every murder have to be about greed, jealousy, or sex?"

"Because greed, jealousy, and sex keep us all employed." Jack Raydor's voice rang out across the room as he came to a stop near the Lieutenant's desk. He had his daughter beside him and a bag in his hands. He passed the bag to her while he looked around. "I'm dropping this one off," he nodded his head toward Emily when Sharon raised a brow at him in askance. "Also, I had a call from a client. Wanted me to come down and talk some sense into you?" He gave her a confused look. "Something about a bogus protection detail?"

"God almighty!" Andy stood up from where he was leaning against his desk. "There's your good, old fashioned psychopathy," he told his partner. "That crazy son of a bitch went and hired _him_ ," he grumbled, pointing a finger at Raydor.

Sharon pinched the bridge of her nose. Yes, that was rather irritating. "Let me guess," she asked, far more calmly but with an edge of frustration in her tone, "Martin Hollings?"

"That would be the one." Jack pushed his hands into his pockets and looked around the Murder Room. There were a myriad of reactions, the foremost being the anger that was radiating off his ex-wife's favorite Lieutenant. "Why? What did you do this guy?"

She dropped her hands with a sigh when Andy slapped the file in his hand against his desk. Already there was a headache brewing behind her eyes. "That is a very good question. Let's discuss it in my office." She waved him in that direction and looked around the room. "Lieutenant Tao," she said, when her eyes landed on him, "would you bring the information we took off Mister Hollings's computer and join us, please?" Her heels clicked against the tiles as she strode toward her office. She exchanged a long look with Andy as she passed him and watched his eyes darken when his gaze shifted to Jack, who had fallen in step behind her. She sighed quietly. The evening was going from unfortunate to worse.

Lieutenant Tao pushed the Captain's door closed behind him and walked over to place the thick file on her desk before taking up a position beside her as she took her seat. "That was everything that we managed to compile before Judge Grove dismissed the case," he explained.

"Thank you, Lieutenant." Sharon placed her hand on the file for a moment. "Martin Hollings was, and still is, the primary suspect in the murder of his wife, Sue Hollings. Major Crimes picked up the case at the request of the DA's office, but we were not the arresting division."

"Hollings hired me last week," Jack explained, "to take over the lawsuit that he filed against the city. He's citing excessive force and prejudicial detainment. I put in the request for the case notes a couple of days ago; the Department hasn't sent them over yet. The City Attorney's office is dragging their feet." Jack snorted. "Like usual." He shrugged. "I got to say, it doesn't look good, Sharon. The guy files a lawsuit against the city and now you're confining him to his house with a police guard? I can win this with my eyes closed."

"If that were the limit of our involvement," she said, "I'm sure that you could." Jack's arrogance never failed to surprise her. In this instance, with the very little about their case that he knew, she couldn't say that it was entirely misplaced. Sharon shook her head. "It is a little more complicated than that. We have a great deal of reason to believe that Mister Hollings not only killed his wife, but planned the event to the most finite detail of expecting Major Crimes to investigate the crime." She pushed the file in front of her toward him. "Somehow I think I expected him to retain you, as you can see, he paid a great deal of attention to me in his research."

Jack arched a brow at her. He stepped closer to the desk and keeping one hand in his pocket, he reached out and flipped open the file. A frown drew his brows together as he paged through it. There was a little there about her team, but she was right, most of it had to do with Sharon and her history. "I admit, that's damned disturbing," he said, "but it hasn't got anything to do with my lawsuit. Sharon, if your division didn't arrest the guy, then it's got nothing to do with you. All of this is just…" He waved a hand at it and scowled. "Creepy, but I don't get paid by a lot of normal people. You know that."

"Yes." She folded her hands together against the top of her desk. They had argued about that often enough during the early years of their marriage, until they learned to simply live with the fact that he defended those that she arrested. Sharon drew a breath and let it out slowly. "Jack, your client turned up tonight at the scene of our murder, which incidentally was located just a few blocks from his home. He involved himself by claiming that the same person who killed his wife murdered our victim. Now, if he is innocent, which is a stretch, he has put himself in danger by claiming to be a witness. The Department is well within its rights to see that Mister Hollings is properly protected. What we think is that Mister Hollings and our current victim's wife conspired to get rid of their spouses."

"Can you prove that?" Jack shrugged at her. "Sharon, come on, you can't just toss a guy in jail based on theory. I need to have some proof here. What do you want me to do?"

"Well, Jack," she tilted her head at him, "the wise thing to do would be to recuse yourself due to a conflict of interest."

"Unless you want to be implicated when the Captain files charges for stalking," Tao stated. "It wouldn't look good. People might think you encouraged him to stalk the ex-wife for your own gain."

"You have to be kidding me?" Jack continued to stare at his ex-wife. "Come on, Sharon. I don't like this anymore than you do," he waved a hand at the file. "It's damned disturbing, especially the information he dug up on the kids. Don't you think it will look a lot worse if I pull out now just because you ask me to?"

"I think that Martin Hollings is an incredibly intelligent suspect," Sharon stated. "I also think that he hired you because he could easily state that all of the research he did prior to that had informative purposes. I also think that he believed that pitting you and I against one another would distract me from our current case." A slow smile curved her lips. "I am afraid he was mistaken. Jack, you can continue to pursue this if you would like, but I believe it would be in your best interests to let this one go."

Hollings had called him, and had not mentioned the new murder or why he had police protection. Jack rocked back on his heels while he thought about it. "Alright," he said slowly, "I tell you what I'll do. I'll stall the lawsuit as much as I can. That should give you time to try and make your case without it hanging over your head. When you get ready to go to the DA, let me know. I'll recuse myself then. If not…" He shrugged. He would just be doing his job at that point.

Sharon's eyes narrowed as she studied him. "Fair enough," she decided. "Lieutenant Tao will get you copies of the protection order. Make sure that your client understands that he is not under house arrest, but that we are just cautioning him to be careful in his movements."

Jack leaned forward, hands braced on the edge of her desk. He grinned crookedly at her. "That's fine. I just want to know one thing. Do I get points for playing along?"

She leaned toward him. Her face was impassive. "Absolutely not." He was long past winning any favors with her, and she was well beyond being the least moved by his poor attempts at flirting. Sharon sat back in her chair. "Lieutenant."

"This way." Tao waved him back toward the door. He was fighting the urge to grin. No wonder Flynn wanted to have a fit every time he came around. "The paperwork is on my desk."

Sharon watched them go and rolled her eyes. She sat there for just a moment before rising from the desk. She sighed as she crossed her office. Her feet were beginning to ache. She was wearing the wrong heels for a night at the office. She told herself that she would dismiss everyone soon, and not just because she wanted the unhappy, scowling man at the desk outside her office to rub her feet. She offered a smile and tilted her head at him as she passed, an invitation for him to join her as she crossed the murder room.

Emily was standing at Buzz's desk while the two of them, along with Rusty, inspected the contents of the paper bag she had brought. The bag bore the name of the restaurant where Sharon had intended her daughter's celebration to take place. She smiled brightly as she joined them. "Emily." She hugged her daughter to her side with one arm. "How was dinner?"

Her mother was giving her an apologetic smile. Emily had already decided to let it go. She had enjoyed the evening with her father and her brother, despite the fact that the rest of her family had been called away, or bailed, as the case may be with Rusty. She couldn't blame him, she imagined it would be awkward to be stuck with her and Ricky and their father all by himself. "It was really good." She tapped a finger against the side of the bag. "I brought you something. You had to leave before the appetizers came. I know you must be starving."

She wasn't until that moment. Sharon watched Buzz lifted a covered, tin dish out of the bag and felt her stomach clench in response. The smell of roasted meat reached her nose and she almost sighed. "You are an absolute love," she told her daughter. She kissed the side of her head before leaning over to peek into the bag. Their names were written on the carryout tins. She found two with her name on them and a third for Andy. She lifted all three and passed them to him.

Since Jack was still milling around the murder room he jerked his head toward the hall. "I'll take these to the break room," Andy said. That seemed like the only way that they were going to get a minute alone. Having to deal with that guy wasn't going to do a lot for his appetite and he really didn't want to get into it with Sharon over the ex.

"Good idea." Sharon let her hand trail down his arm as he stepped away. She turned her attention back to her daughter. "I am sorry that our night got cut short. We'll try to do it again soon," she promised.

"It's okay." Emily shrugged. "It happens, right?" It wasn't the first time, and it certainly wouldn't be the last. Emily leaned against Buzz's desk. "Don't feel bad. We had a good time, and you got to be there to see me dance. That's the part that really matters. We have dinner together all the time," she said.

"Still." Sharon cupped her chin. "We will do something together soon. I am going to go and take advantage of a few quiet moments and eat while I can. Is your father going to take you home, or…"

"She's picking up my car," Buzz explained. He was sitting on the edge of his desk. There was a carryout container in his hand. He already had the top off and was enjoying the shrimp and basil salad that she brought him. "Rusty is going to take me home later."

"Okay then." Sharon touched her daughter's arm as she stepped away. "Come and see me before you leave," she told her.

"I will." Emily waited until her mother had gone before she turned back to her boyfriend and brother. Rusty was seated on his other side. "So, I guess I don't have to ask how your night is going."

"Dinner might have been more entertaining," Rusty said. He wasn't going to pretend that he hadn't completely escaped. "What happened to Ricky?"

"He went back to the Condo." Emily leaned against the desk. She reached over and stole a small piece of shrimp from Buzz's salad. When he scowled at her, she only grinned and popped it into her mouth. "I might have led him to believe that our mother is never with her boyfriend in any sort of relationship capacity at that location."

Buzz rolled his eyes at her. "Emily." He shook his head. "You know that isn't true."

Rusty snorted a laugh. "Yeah, but Ricky is still in complete denial. Good job." He nodded in approval. "If we have to deal with it, he has to deal with it. Every sibling for themselves when mom is having too much dating fun."

"Even if that means completely embarrassing her," Buzz pointed out. "I'm trying to figure out how that is in any way appropriate. Getting even with your sibling is one thing, but you know that your mother will be embarrassed if he sees more than he should."

Emily pouted at him. "Don't take the fun out of it. Ricky deserves what he gets. He still thinks they're not doing more than hanging out and going to the occasional movie together."

"Now that he is home for a visit," Buzz pointed out, "I'm sure that he will realize that it is a lot more than that. Without you interfering." He smirked at her. "Emily, how would you feel?"

She groaned. "Great. You've ruined it. Fine, I won't screw with Ricky at mother's expense. Are you happy now?"

"Incredibly." He leaned over and kissed her before he stood up. "I have to get back to work. Rusty."

"I know, I know." He shoved a bite into his mouth and stood up. "Time to assist. Thanks for bringing dinner," he told his sister.

"You're welcome." She took their containers and placed them back in the bag. "I have to go see mom. I'll put these in the break room for you." She was also going to have to do something else with Ricky for the night, just in case her mother decided to go home when she left the PAB. Emily's lips pursed. She supposed she would drop by and pick him up. He could spend the night with them. Buzz would just have to deal with the brother inquisition. Emily smiled as she left the murder room. Next time he might not be so against plotting against her mother.

Sharon found Andy waiting for her in the break room. He already had the tops off the carryout containers and was standing at the counter pouring two cups of coffee. He looked up as she came into the room. "Your daughter adores you." He nodded his head toward the table. He refused to think the items on it had been anything but Emily's doing.

"Oh?" Sharon walked over and took a good look. There was a salad that she knew was for Andy, and the roast chicken that she had smelled in the Murder Room. In another container there was a dessert that already had her mouth watering. "Yes, she does."

Arranged carefully in the carryout tin was an array of freshly baked beignets. There was also fresh fruit, sliced strawberries and oranges along with a selection of succulent looking blueberries. In two plastic cups centered between the beignets were the dipping sauces, a creamy white chocolate and a golden caramel. Sharon completely ignored her dinner as she tore one of the beignets in half. She dipped one of them in the caramel before taking a bite. Her eyes closed immediately. She hummed as the mixed flavors of pastry, powdered sugar, and caramel flowed over her tongue. There was also an underlying taste of banana that she knew was the dipping sauce. Sharon hummed appreciatively. Emily knew just how much she loved ordering the Beignets from Collections Café, although she did not allow herself to indulge very often.

Andy's brows shot up while he watched her. The corners of his mouth twitched toward a grin. He walked over and stood nearby. His head tilted. He had seen that look on her face before, just never at work. He cleared his throat quietly. There was amusement dancing in his dark eyes. "Keep that up and I'm going to have to take you home."

Her eyes opened. She looked up at him and laughed. "Oh hush. Try it." She swirled the remaining half of the beignet in her hand around the lip of the caramel container and held it out to him.

Rather than take it from her he leaned forward and closed his mouth around the bite while she held it. He watched her eyes flash and her teeth scrape across her bottom lip. Andy leaned back and tilted his head at her. She was right, it was good, but her reaction had been even better. "Not bad," he said, once he'd finished, his thick voice rumbling in the room. He reached out and swept away a fleck of powdered sugar from the corner of her mouth with his thumb.

She was smiling as she stepped away from him. Sharon put the table between them as she took a seat. "Behave," she admonished gently. It was not the time or place to let themselves get too carried away.

"You started it," he pointed out with a grin. Andy reached across the table and placed her coffee in front of her. "I was just following your example." Where he stood he had a very good view of her dress and the way that it dipped, giving him a glimpse of her cleavage and what she wore beneath it. His eyes darkened as he watched her. When she met his gaze, his brow arched. "Did I mention you looked good tonight?"

Although her cheeks flushed a light shade of pink, and a pleased smile curved her lips, she pointed at the chair across from her. "Sit." Sharon reached for one of the plastic forks that he laid out for them and pulled her dinner over. "Do not make me have to send you home alone, Lieutenant." Her eyes sparkled up at him. "You know that I will."

Andy grinned as he pulled his chair around, near enough so that when he did lower himself into it, his knee bumped hers. He was still far enough away for propriety's sake, however. He knew that he could push her only so far. She was willing to play, and flirt, and tease, but they had approached that line that she wouldn't cross. "We gave SID a list of the gun parts we were still missing from the Hollings case," he said, bringing the conversation back around to a more appropriate topic. "They're going to look for them at the Owens' estate, but it's a long shot." He doubted those missing parts were anywhere that they would find them, but it was worth a look.

"I want to start building a list of any other commonalities between the two murders," Sharon said. "I also want to know if they have any friends, committees, country clubs, or anything of the like that would link them together. These two murders are related, and I want to know how."

"Besides the obvious." He shook his head. "We'll canvas the neighbors again tomorrow, find out how well everyone knew them, and drop in a few questions about the Hollings while we're at it. We'll see if either Mister or Mrs. Hollings were friends with the victim. Who knows, maybe they were the ones having the affair."

"This is awfully well thought out for a revenge killing," Sharon said. "Especially when all Mrs. Owen had to do was prove that her husband was having an affair and she could divorce him with her finances intact." She made a mental note to get a copy of that prenuptial agreement on file.

"We've seen killers do crazier things," he pointed out, "and dumber." Andy looked up when the break room door opened. He jerked his head toward it. "Sharon."

She rose as Emily came in to the room. "Are you going?" Sharon held out her arms and pulled her daughter into a hug.

"Yes. I'm going to swing by and pick Ricky up. He's staying the night with us." Buzz just didn't know it yet. "He was going to hang out at the condo, but I don't want you to feel like you have to rush home," she teased.

"She just became my favorite," Andy decided. With Ricky at home, Sharon would want to go back to the Condo, and even if he tagged along with her that would severely limit their evening. After the display that she just put on, he wasn't looking forward to sharing her.

"He is insisting on getting himself in trouble." Sharon swept Emily's hair over her shoulder. "Are you sure? Ricky can sleep on the sofa. It isn't going to hurt him. He's done it before. I think he's even old enough now to spend the evening alone."

"Buzz has a spare room," Emily told her. "He can sleep in a bed. Then in the morning he can pretend he isn't the little brother. He'll have fun. I'll have fun."

"The boyfriend won't have fun." Andy pointed his fork at her. "She is definitely my favorite." He was grinning widely. He had a sister of his own; he could just imagine what Ricky would come up with over breakfast for topics of discussion.

"You two are awful!" Sharon reclaimed her seat. "No teasing Buzz," she told them. "He puts up with enough, and I am putting my foot down. If Ricky is going with you, make sure that he knows that I will be very unhappy with him if he does anything out of line."

Emily's lips pursed. "Define out of line…"

"Emily Ann." Sharon gave her a pointed look. "Go home." She pointed a finger at Andy, who was still laughing. "It is not funny."

"How did we lose control of this situation?" Emily shook her head as she turned. "I'm going. What Ricky may or may not do is out of my hands, but I will tell him what you said."

"You know, if you keep taking his side," Andy leaned toward her as Emily left, "I'm going to start to worry."

"If you don't start behaving yourself," she told him, voice dipping toward a low, teasing tone, "I am going to start wondering why I like you so much."

"You love me." Since they were alone, and there was no one to see them, he kissed her quick and then leaned back in his seat. "And you like it when I misbehave," he pointed out.

Sharon groaned at him. She couldn't discount that. She had known that he was trouble. "Just be a little kinder. I think he gets enough teasing for dating the boss's daughter without the boss's family joining in on the fun. He's one of the good ones, Emily could do a lot worse."

Andy shook his head at her. He read between the lines without even having to try. He just knew her that well. "Yeah, he is. And if Emily ends up moving back to Los Angeles because she wants to be with him, you'll be that much happier. Did it ever occur to you," he pointed out, "that _he_ might end up moving to New York?" Andy reached over and took one of the blueberries out of the dessert container. "This thing could go either way, Sharon."

"I know." She sighed. She was just really hoping that, if at some point that relationship did become that serious her daughter would end up back on the west coast. "You cannot blame a mother for being hopeful."

"Nope." He grinned at her. "I wouldn't either. I'm just making sure that you've thought about it all." He dipped a slice of strawberry in the white chocolate sauce and held it out for her. "Gotta say though, I hope it goes the other way." He wanted her to be happy, and he knew that nothing would make her happier than having Emily back home.

Her smile warmed as she took the strawberry from him. Her hand curled around his wrist for just a moment as she accepted the bite. She gave it a squeeze before pulling away from him and shifting her attention back to their previous discussion. "I do not want to allow Martin Hollings to walk away from another murder. Canvas the neighbors, and after we get Doctor Morales's autopsy results, I want to invite the wife back in for a chat." Her head tilted. "Is it too much to ask that the bullets will be the same caliber?"

"Probably." He shrugged. "Weirder stuff has happened around here. We won't know until Morales gets back to us." That wasn't going to happen until morning. All they could do tonight was the preliminary fact finding. "What do you say we finish putting everything together and get out of here? Not much more we can do until tomorrow anyway."

"Soon," she agreed with a nod. "I want to look over the statements that we got from the neighbors this evening. I would also like to take a look at the original interview with the victim's wife." Sharon turned her wrist over and glanced at her watch. "Maybe an hour?"

"Better make it two," at her look he sighed. "It took them a while to talk to the wife. She put on a good show."

Sharon sighed. "Alright, two it is." She wasn't staying much beyond that point, however. She reached for another beignet and broke it in half. "Then you are driving me home." Her eyes sparkled when she looked at him.

Andy watched her coat the beignet in caramel sauce with a smirk. If she kept that up, it was going to be a long two hours. To think, she called _him_ trouble. He was beginning to realize that he had been a bad influence on her. Damned if he wasn't enjoying it.

 **-TBC-**


	13. Chapter 13

**Leaping In**

 **by Kadi**

 **Rated T**

 **Disclaimer:** This is not my sandbox, this is just my favorite place to play. I promise to put all of the toys back when I'm done.

 **A/N:** The most awesome twin on the planet found this quote. It reminded us both of this chapter after I wrote it. It also reminded us of what a relationship really is... give and take, as much in the bad moments as in the good. Thanks **kate04us**!

 _"Relationship is not just holding hands_

 _while you understand each other._

 _It's also having lots of misunderstandings_

 _and still not leaving each other's hands."_

 _— Ryan Ferreras_

* * *

 **Chapter 13**

When they first began dating, Andy thought that there wasn't a whole lot about Sharon that he didn't already know. He had known her for years, at least in a professional capacity, and then they had been friends. They had gotten to know quite a lot about each other as they got progressively closer, but in dating he began to realize just how much about herself she still kept closely guarded. As they got to know one another better on that more intimate level, he came to understand that what he thought he felt for her was just scratching the surface of what could be possible.

They made the transition slowly. Although it was frustrating at times, he was able to understand and accept the necessity. There was a lot at risk in taking their relationship to a more personal level, and not just professionally. Now, some months later, and well after becoming lovers they were still learning about one another. They had started to reach a point where they spent more time together than apart. There were still some nights that they spent at their own residences, but those occasions were growing fewer and farther between as they found that they just preferred being together.

As the intimacy between them grew there were certain walls that were beginning to come down. They were, quite naturally, far more comfortable with each other at this point in their relationship than they had been at the start. In the beginning, even after they started sleeping together, Sharon would not have dreamed of going without makeup in front of him. Now the first thing that she did upon hitting the door, either at her home or his, was to get more comfortable. That meant changing her clothes and removing her makeup, and in all honesty he preferred the natural look, although she still didn't fully believe that was true.

For Andy, he was kind of a homebody. He liked lounging around on his days off, with a ball game on the television or spending his time working around the house, be it in his garage or the yard. He wasn't fond of shopping, even for a man with as many well tailored suits as he had, and he spent enough time around the _scumbags of the world_ as he put it, that he liked being away from people on his down time. People other than Sharon, of course, as they found that they didn't need to _go out_ to spend quality time together. They discovered that it was just as enjoyable to sit together, while he watched the game and she read, as it was to spend an afternoon or evening out on the town.

Something that he knew about Sharon before they began dating was that she did not like a lot of clutter. There was a place for everything and everything belonged in its place. He was good with that; he felt much the same way. That did not prepare him, in the least, for sharing a bathroom with the woman. That rule, he learned quickly, apparently did not apply to her cosmetics. Andy figured out, pretty quickly, that if he didn't get to the bathroom first he would be stumbling over a variety of containers from concealers and foundations to eye shadow and the many different shades of lipstick that seemed to fit her mood on any given day while he tried to shave. It drove him nuts, each and every time. He wasn't always a morning person to begin with, and more than once he swept the lot of it into a drawer to get it out of his way, all the while scowling unhappily at the woman that it belonged to. That she would shrug and smirk in response could either disarm him immediately or irritate him that much more. Which response she would get was usually a toss up, but she would shove a cup of coffee in front of him and tell him to find her when he was in a better mood if he was being particularly surly.

Not that he was the only one in that relationship prone to bouts of moodiness. Sharon hated the fact that he put his grocery shopping off to the very last minute, and that he would never make a list before doing it. She would usually ignore it, but if she was in a particularly wonderful mood they would argue over those two items, along with the fact that he didn't always rinse the dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. Suffice it to say; over the few months of their relationship they had some interesting arguments. Each of them was simple, and neither of them ever stayed upset for very long. They always made up within just minutes of arguing, and knew when to give each other space to prevent a more serious discussion. To date the most serious argument they'd had was the one over Jack, but they had managed to put that behind them and move forward.

That was the last thing on Andy's mind, however, as he moved around the bathroom getting ready for work. It had taken them almost three hours to finally leave the Murder Room the evening before. There was still a lot to be done in the Owen case, but they had gone as far as they could until they had the autopsy results back. They were expecting to get those first thing that morning. After a late night, and expecting an early morning, Andy had driven Sharon home and fallen into bed alongside her. Despite the teasing they had done in the break room, they had both been asleep within minutes of lying down. He had intended on doing something about that come morning, but that thought had been pushed aside too.

"There's a hook right here," he grumbled, waving a hand at the item while in his other he held the damp towel that he had just picked up off the laundry pile. "What the hell is the point of putting the hamper over here by it if you're just going to toss the damp towels in the hamper?" It was one of his pet peeves, although he usually tried to ignore it.

He was in a foul mood and had been since waking up. Sharon folded her lips together and tried to fight the urge to smile. From the moment he stumbled out of bed, to the point where he had tripped over her heels, and then finally having stubbed his toe on the bench at the foot of her bed, she had known it was going to be an interesting morning. He wasn't always the most cheerful person before his morning coffee, but usually he tried to put a lid on it. She tilted her head and wondered if it was good or not that they had let down so many of their walls with each other that he was shaking a towel at her and glowering darkly, while standing there with another towel wrapped precariously around his hips.

"Do you want me to answer? Or is this just one of those mornings where you are going to be in a bad mood no matter what I say?" She tried to keep her tone carefully neutral, but it quivered with amusement. Sharon watched his eyes darken further from where she stood, carefully styling her hair in the mirror over the bathroom vanity. "How about," she added, her own eyes sparkling with badly concealed amusement, "it is my house? I can put the damp towels in the hamper if I choose to."

He dropped the towel on the hamper and stalked out of the bathroom. "Fine. If you want your laundry to stink," he muttered, "leave the towels in the hamper."

Sharon rolled her eyes heavenward. A smile curved her lips and she waited, counting a few beats before she stepped back from the mirror to gaze into the bedroom. He was standing in front of her closet now, looking through the selection of suits he kept at her residence. There weren't many, just a few, but with the unpredictable hours they kept it seemed wise for them to keep clothes and toiletries at each other's homes, if they intended to continue sleeping together; which, so far, they most definitely did. "Andy." Her voice took on a soothing tone. "If fighting will make you feel better, we can do that." She glanced at her watch, "but we should do it soon, we are going to run out of time."

Andy turned slowly. He scowled at her. "Well, patronizing me is a good way to pick one. Lucky for you, I don't really feel like fighting this morning." He pulled his charcoal, pinstripe suit out of the closet and tossed it over onto the bed, along with his pink shirt. He went back to studying the closet, looking for his favorite purple tie.

She shook her head at his back and turned her attention back to getting ready. _I was not patronizing you_ , she mouthed, while making a face. He really was in a foul mood, she decided. She wondered how much coffee she could get down him before they got to the office, because if she had to deal with his attitude there, she might just end up sending him to the first seminar that crossed her mind.

"Have you seen my purple tie?" He gave up looking and decided to ask. It wasn't hanging with the others and hadn't been moved or dropped in the closet.

Her lips pursed. Sharon stepped back while sliding small, gold hoops into her ears. "I believe that it is with the dry cleaning waiting to be dropped."

Andy frowned as he turned. "You mean the dry cleaning that's been waiting to be dropped for almost a week?"

His tone had her brows shooting up. Sharon dropped her hands to her hips and stared back at him. "I am sorry," she said carefully, in a measured tone. "I was not aware that I had become your housekeeper, because I am certainly not your wife, and if I was, you _still_ would want to check that tone and attitude mister. Now, would you like to try again?"

There was a definite chill in the room and it had nothing at all to do with the fact that he was still standing there in just a towel. Andy ground his teeth together as they stood, staring at one another. "I thought you said that you were going to take care of the dry cleaning this week," he stated, managing somehow to keep his frustration at a low rumble.

"Yes I did," she replied, just as carefully, "and I fully intend to, but I drop the dry cleaning on Friday and pick it up on Tuesday. I apologize, I thought that you were aware."

"No, I wasn't," but it made sense. She usually came in a few minutes late on Friday mornings, and they always took their own vehicles to work, unless called in while on a date, as they had been the previous evening. Andy sighed as he picked up the pink shirt and exchanged it for the gray one and a red tie. "I'll drop the dry cleaning off," he said, far more calmly, and by way of apology.

"Thank you." Sharon drew a breath and let it out slowly as she turned back to the mirror to finish putting in her earrings. _A lot of coffee,_ she mouthed to herself. "Do you want to have breakfast here, or should I pick something up on the way to the office?" she asked, deciding to let it go completely. It wasn't worth fighting about. She knew that his mood would pass soon.

"Let's grab something on the way in," He called back. He sighed as he started getting dressed. His mind was working over the rest of what she said as he worked closed the buttons of his dress shirt. After a few minutes, he walked toward the bathroom, just close enough so that he could see her. "What the hell was that supposed to mean," he began, " _if_ you were my wife? Is that some kind of offhand way of telling me that's never going to be on the table?"

"Oh my god!" She whirled toward him. "You really do want to fight, don't you?" Sharon stepped out of the bathroom. "Okay, let's have at it. What is your problem this morning? You have been in a foul mood since you woke up, and before we start, just for the record, _you_ picked this fight."

"I'm not interested in fighting with you." He sat down on the edge of the bed and began pulling his socks on. "You put it out there, I think it's more than fair to ask the question." Andy looked up at her with hooded eyes. "Why say it if you weren't thinking it?"

She wanted to shake him. Instead Sharon walked over to stand in front of him. "Because you are yelling at me about damp towels in the hamper, and whether or not the dry cleaning has been dropped off. We don't even live together and we've become more domestic in the last couple of months than I was with Jack in twenty years." She sighed softly. Her face softened immediately and she smiled at him. "It is not off the table, but it is not exactly on it either. Not yet. I think you know that." If he had been thinking about asking, he would have mentioned it. The man didn't have a single subtle bone in his entire body. He wouldn't be able to keep something like that from her.

He dropped his foot to the floor and let his hands fall to rest against his lap. "Maybe we should," he said. "Live together," he added when her eyes widened. "We're already splitting our time between here and my place. We don't intend to stop that anytime soon, so maybe it would make a lot more sense if we just had the one place to worry about." Andy reached out and settled his hands against her hips. He drew her forward to stand between his legs. "Maybe," he said carefully, heart beating so wildly in his chest that he was sure that she could hear it, "I don't want you telling me that it's your house when I complain about the damp towels in the hamper. Maybe," he continued, when her brows simply lifted and she didn't say anything, "when I don't write down what we're out of, I don't want to remind you that it's my house. Or listen to you complain in the mornings because you've got the wrong heels at my place, or have to worry about whether or not I've got a clean suit here if we get called out in the middle of the night. You know, maybe I just don't want to have to question _where_ you and I are going to end up sleeping, because we know that we aren't going home alone."

"Andy." She whispered his name. Sharon rested her hands against his shoulders. That was not in the least what she had expected and she wondered how long he had been considering it. "I..." She shook her head, more to clear it than in any real response. "I have Rusty," she reminded him. The condo was barely big enough for the two of them, much less Andy too. They managed a few days a week, but she couldn't imagine what it would be like on a more permanent basis. It was never intended to be shared by three adults. The single bathroom would be the biggest obstacle.

"Right." He stood up and pushed past her. "No, that's… yeah, there's the kid to think about." Andy just naturally assumed that they would factor Rusty into any decision they made. He didn't dream that she would use it as a reason to stall him. "Don't worry about it." He stepped into his shoes and reached for his jacket. Andy draped it over his arm while he stopped at her dresser. He clipped his gun holster and cuffs onto his belt before sliding his wallet and phone into his pockets.

Her mouth dropped open as he moved away from her. In an instant he was a closed book. No longer surly, but completely indifferent. "Andy!" Sharon stared at his back. "I did not say no."

"Then what are you saying?" He looked back at her while shrugging into his jacket. "It isn't that hard of a question. You either want to or you don't."

"It's a little more complicated than that," She replied. Sharon shook her head at him. "Andy, there is not a lot of space here, and your house isn't really that big either. I don't know if Rusty..."

"Yeah. He was barely able to stand the idea of us being together when this started," Andy replied. "I remember. Tell you what, when you figure it out, why don't you let me know."

She was completely dumbfounded as he left. Sharon blinked a few times before jolting on the spot. "Andy!" She followed him from the bedroom and down the hall. He didn't even stop as he moved around the corner. The sound of the door slamming sounded through the apartment.

Rusty was coming out of the kitchen, a bagel and a bottle of juice in hand; he gave her a wide-eyed look. "What happened?" He had heard them be sarcastic with one another before, but he had never heard them argue. He hadn't even heard them fighting this time. The Lieutenant had certainly looked angry as he left.

"I..." She couldn't even tell him. Sharon shook her head at him before looking at the door again. "He left." Her mouth snapped closed. Her stomach clenched painfully. In her chest her heart contracted. "He left," she repeated, whispering it this time, as if saying it again would help her to believe it.

He watched her pale before she turned away. "Sharon." Rusty started to follow her but she waved him off. He watched her walk quickly back down the hall. Her bedroom door closed with a loud click and he sighed. The sound of the door closing had not drowned out the soft sob that escaped her before she made it into her room. Rusty felt like he had missed something. Wasn't it just last night that they were being disgustingly couple like? What could have changed _that_ fast? "What the hell?" He asked.

Rusty stood there for several long moments while he tried to decide if he should follow her. He wondered if he should call one of the siblings and let them handle it, or just forget that he saw anything and hope that it worked itself out. What did he really know about the kind of relationships that adults like Sharon and Andy had? If it was just a stupid fight, they would make up and that would be the end of it. What bothered him was the thought that it was more than that, but he didn't know if getting involved was really the thing for him to do.

Before he could even fully make up his mind the front door opened again. Rusty's brows rose in surprise as Flynn walked back in. He slammed the door behind him again and stalked down the hall. As Sharon's door closed behind him, louder than it probably needed to, Rusty just turned and walked back to the kitchen. "I don't want to know," he decided. Whatever was going on he chose not to get involved. He picked up his book bag and left the apartment before he could get drawn into it, or end up late to class.

She was standing in her bedroom, still trying to figure out how the discussion with Andy had gotten so far out of control when the door closed behind her. Sharon jumped at the sound and turned. Her eyes were wide, and shining brightly with tears that had only just started to pool. She blinked at the man that was standing in front of her and when she did a single tear broke free and rolled slowly down her cheek. "Andy." She didn't even know what to say anymore.

"You know what," he pointed at her, "no. It's not that damned hard. We're either moving forward with this thing or we're not. I'm not dating Rusty, or Jack, and you're not in this with Nicole, or Vicki, or any of the rest of our kids. This relationship should be about you and me. We're the ones on the damned line here. They aren't the ones that have to worry about their careers, or their reputations, or transferring, or hell even getting hurt if this doesn't work out."

It took her a few moments to process the fact that he was actually yelling at her. He hadn't walked out. He was pissed off. Sharon blinked a few times. He had told her once that he used to leave when Vicki pushed him to that point, to keep from saying something he would regret. That he should have stayed and fought. She would need to think about her own reaction to that later, and the fact that he had managed, without knowing it, to provoke one of her triggers. Jack had rarely bothered to even try to fight. He would leave. He wouldn't come back. The difference was, this wasn't Jack and she wasn't Vicki.

Sharon's back straightened as her own temper was provoked by his tone. "I think I am perfectly aware of who is in this relationship," she said evenly. "One of us is a stubborn ass who has no ability to listen." She folded her arms across her chest and glared at him. "I cannot just make a decision like this, off the cuff, without considering every aspect, and yes!" Her eyes flashed angrily, "One of those very important factors is Rusty. What am I supposed to do, Andy, put him on the street so that you and I can shack up? He is my son and he has a home with me for as long as he wants to be here."

"No," he snarked back at her, "but we can find a place big enough for all three of us if what we've got right now isn't going to get the job done. I would never suggest tossing the kid out, what kind of bastard do you think that I am, Sharon?"

"The kind of bastard who picks a fight for no good reason because he's in a foul mood," she shot back at him. "Andy _why_ are you so angry with me?"

He looked away from her. His jaw was clenched so tightly together that it ached. His hands were resting against his belt at his hips. Andy looked at her again and shrugged. "I woke up this morning, with you right there beside me, and I thought… that's it," he said, "that's all I want, right there, for the rest of my life. But I knew if I asked that you would say no."

She moved slowly toward him. She stopped in front of him, close enough to touch, but still maintained their personal space. "I am not saying no," she said quietly. "Andy, you got angry and you walked out before I could even finish processing the question. Does that really demonstrate to you that either of us is ready to move to that level?"

"I didn't want to lose it with you," he told her, "but dammit, you're worth fighting for. Think about how I felt. All I can do is toss it out there and hope for the best. I didn't think it would feel like this," he admitted. He itched to touch her but shoved his hands into his pockets instead. "I didn't expect that you would be it for me, but I gotta wonder if I'm hanging out here on this limb alone."

"You are not in any way in this alone." She took another step forward and laid her hands against his chest. Her touch was light, almost tentative. "I am right here. I need you to talk to me. Stomping around the apartment in a bad mood is not going to tell me what is on your mind. Andy…" She drew her bottom lip between her teeth and sighed. "I am in, completely. There is no going back for me, not without a very good reason. Although your attitude this morning leaves a lot to be desired, that does not change the fact that I love you, or that I want you in my life. Even when you're a foul tempered son of a bitch."

He snorted and looked away, a grin tugging at his mouth because he knew that she was right, and because she so seldom resorted to swearing. Andy tugged his hands out of his pockets and slid his arms around her waist. "I've got everything to lose here, Sharon. I don't want to be without you anymore. It's hell waking up without you when we have to, but it's not always convenient going home together, and yeah…" He shrugged. "We've both got other stuff in our lives. We've got our kids, and the job, and Provenza…" When she snorted a small laugh he pulled her closer, until she was leaning against him. "I wasn't going to say anything, but the more I thought about it…"

"You were afraid it would end before you got the chance." She knew him, only too well. "Andy, I know that you can be a bad-tempered jerk, every bit as much as you know that I can be a moody, uptight bitch. I think we can safely say that we have seen each other at our worst over the years. There is very little that you could do that is going to make me _stop_ loving you, or stop wanting you to be a part of my life. It is a very short list, and you have never come close to any of it." Lying, cheating, drinking… that would push her away from him, although she wouldn't turn her back on him at the loss of his sobriety, not unless he refused her help. She knew how important that was to him, however, and she trusted him to continue taking care of himself. It was because she trusted him that she knew that she would be able to help him if they did one day have to fight that battle. "We are neither of us perfect people," she said softly, "but this isn't going to work if you stop talking to me. That has never been a problem for us before."

"I guess I just figured…" Andy sighed again. "Hell, the kid barely tolerates us being together. He's gotten better, but he's not exactly crazy about the idea. I never expected that you would go anywhere without taking Rusty with you, and no, this place isn't big enough for all of us. It's bad enough sharing a bathroom with a teenager three days out of the week, I can't imagine doing it full time. He's never going to go for it, Sharon, either moving into my place or something else, so what was the point in even asking you?"

"The point is that it is something that you want," she told him. She cupped his cheek, let her thumb sweep along the curve of his jaw. "It is an idea that I am not opposed to. I like knowing that you are here." She smiled warmly at him. "I love that your dry cleaning is mixed in with mine, and I don't even mind it when you shove all my makeup out of your way in the morning. What I love most is laying down beside you every night and having you around in the morning to talk to over coffee." Sharon drew a breath and let it out slowly. "You are right, though. It isn't always convenient. I do miss you when we aren't together." The eyes she loved were staring back at her, so full of love, but so full of worry too. "Rusty is a factor," she began, "a very important one. He will always have a home with me for as long as he wants one, but… if I choose to make my life with you, and he refuses to be a part of that, then _he_ is making a choice too. I respect my children's boundaries, but they are not going to rule my relationships. We have been patient with Rusty, but this relationship is not going to end because he does not approve of it. Not that I believe that is the problem. He is a nineteen-year-old boy whose mother is dating. He doesn't want to know about it," she said in a dry tone. "I am going to consider his needs, but they are not my only consideration."

He swept a lock of hair away from her cheek and tucked it behind her ear. His fingers stroked the curve of her cheek and down along the graceful column of her neck. He settled his hand against the side of her neck and let his thumb stroke along her pulse point. Her heart was beating just as rapidly as his was. "I'm sorry I was an ass. I wasn't…" He dropped his forehead to rest against hers. "I wasn't walking away. I was trying not to blow my top."

"I know." Her arms slipped around his middle. "But I would rather you fight with me, even when you are just being an ass, than to walk away. I've had enough of that." It had triggered memories and emotions that she wanted to forget.

"I'm sorry," he said again.

"So am I," she murmured. "I should have been more clear with you. I am not going anywhere." Sharon tipped her head back and smiled gently up at him. "You have me. For as long as you want me."

"I'm never going to not want you," he rumbled. "Trust me on that. It ain't happening."

She tipped her face toward him and let her lips move against his as she said, "then ask me again."

His hand slid into her hair to cup the back of her hair. The gold flecks in her eyes seemed to make them come alive, until they were burning back at him with an intensity that stole his breath. "Do you think that maybe we should consider moving—"

She pressed her mouth against his. Her hands curled into his jacket in an effort to press closer to him. She allowed it to linger, for just a moment, before murmuring a quiet, but definite, "Yes," against his lips.

Andy blinked at her. "Yeah?" Still, even with her asking him to put the question out there again, that was not the response that he expected.

"Yes," she laughed at him. The bewildered look on his face was one of her favorites. There were times when he was simply adorable. "I am in no way going to share a single bathroom with two men, though, so we are going to have to figure something else out, but yes…" She smiled up at him again. "I like that idea. I happen to like it a great deal. I still need to talk to Rusty, and there are going to be some logistics to work through," she warned him, "but I want to share my life with you."

"Are you sure?" He wasn't about to push his luck, but a part of him still wondered if he was dreaming. "I'm still going to gripe about the damp towels in the hamper."

"Are you trying to talk me out of it now?" Sharon rolled her eyes at him. "Andy I am sure. I want you. I am not going to stop wanting you. I am _in_ ," she told him again. "I suppose the question here is, are you?"

"Oh, I'm definitely in," he told her. "You have no idea lady." He pushed his hands into her hair and held her head as he kissed her. Andy backed her into the closed bedroom door and held her there while he teased her lips open.

She hummed into the kiss but pressed her hands against his chest. "I wish we had time for that," she mumbled against his mouth, "but we are already going to be late." His lips moved down her neck and she let herself enjoy it, for just a moment longer before pushing him away. "Okay. You have not been that much of a bad influence. We have an interview coming in. We can make up later." She moved away from the door and pulled it open. Sharon maneuvered him through it. "I will see you at the office." She knew the only way to not let him convince her to be late was to put him out.

Andy was laughing as the door closed in his face. "One of these days you're not going to have to admit that I was a _good_ influence, not a bad one."

"Never going to happen Flynn!" Sharon walked toward the bathroom to finish getting ready. A bag hanging on the back of the closet door drew her attention before she could get distracted again. "Oh! Andy!" She grabbed it and jogged out to catch him before he could leave. He had only made it halfway down the hall. She held it out to him with a smirk. "Don't forget the dry cleaning."

He rolled his eyes at her. "Really?" Andy shook his head as he took it from her. "Yes dear," he muttered dryly. "Anything else?"

Sharon smirked as she turned away from him again. "Who said you couldn't be trained?"

His hand snapped out and landed playfully against her bottom. "You call me trouble!" He took the dry cleaning and headed back down the hall with it. "Just for that, _you_ can stop for the coffee!"

She waited until he had gone again. Sharon shook her head. She did love that man, almost to distraction at times. She made a mental note to revisit their conversation again later, when there was more time to fully explore it. She wanted to make sure that they avoided another such argument in the future. Whatever insecurities their pasts had written across their present, she would not allow those relationships to jeopardize their future. She did want a future with him, more than she had realized until she thought that it was slipping away. They would have it. They would both see to that.

 **-TBC-**


	14. Chapter 14

**Leaping In**

 **by Kadi**

 **Rated T**

 **Disclaimer:** This is not my sandbox, this is just my favorite place to play. I promise to put all of the toys back when I'm done.

* * *

 **Chapter 14**

Rusty decided to text Emily before his first class. He gave her a brief run down of what had happened. That had resulted in his phone almost blowing up as she got Ricky involved. He still did not understand why she felt the need to do a group text when their brother was currently staying _with_ her. Ricky was right there, could she not have just relayed the information to him?

It had really served to prove to Rusty that Sharon had adopted him for one, irrefutable reason. She wanted to be able to say that she had one normal kid. Those two were so obviously _not_ it. Sometimes he wondered how it was that _he_ was the adopted one and she had actually birthed both of them. That thought crossed his mind sometimes for no other reason than the hair. Emily wore hers pulled back most of the time and when she didn't she was absolutely useless with it. He had no words for Ricky's hair. No one did.

He was really only thinking about that because after his class, and reading the million messages that he received during that hour, he sat down with the pair of them at a coffee shop. Ricky's hair was in disarray, as it always was. He had obviously been cutting it himself again. There really was no hope for him.

Rusty realized that his mind had wondered when Ricky reached over and waved a hand in front of his face. He had been listening to his siblings go back and forth on the issue of their mother and her boyfriend for the last ten minutes. He couldn't get a word in. He still wasn't convinced that any of them should get involved. He just wanted to know what they _thought_ about it. Now he cast a bland look at his brother. "What? You remembered that I was here?"

"Well you are pretty unforgettable," Ricky shot back at him. "Emily is just going to ask mom what the fight was about. What do you think?"

"Then she's going to know that I told you." Rusty made a face at them. "I think I would rather she didn't."

"Of course you told us." Ricky rolled his eyes. "You were there, weren't you? This kind of thing is an automatic share. Mom knows that."

Rusty sighed. "Doesn't mean she's going to like it."

"He's right." Emily rested her chin in her hand. "We'll get the lecture. It might be worth it." She considered for a moment, and then she pointed at her youngest brother. "You know what you should do? You should conference Nicole into this."

"What?" Rusty's face screwed up in confusion. "Why would we do that?"

"Because if her dad is being a jerk to our mom, I want to know if that's standard procedure," Emily said. "I can't ask her, I barely know her. I've only spoken to her, like, twice."

"That doesn't mean that I know her!" Rusty shook his head at them. "No, that is definitely _not_ a good idea. I would rather ask Sharon about it myself. I am not involving Nicole. I don't even think that we should involve _ourselves_. I just wanted you two to know what was going on."

"Oh Rusty, of course we're getting involved." Emily shook her head at him. "It's what we do. If one of us was fighting with our boyfriend how fast do you think mom would be getting involved, hm? How long have you been living with her?" She gave him a skeptical look. "How are you still new to this?" Before he could even answer she turned her attention on Ricky. "I gave you one job. Just one. This was your chance to be the older sibling. You haven't taught him anything."

"What? Me!" Ricky's jaw dropped open. "How is this suddenly _my_ fault? Hello! Have you met him?" He waved a hand at Rusty. "Let me introduce you. This is Rusty, our little brother, and he doesn't listen to _anything_ that I say. What was I supposed to do about it? Of course I have taught him. He couldn't be any more stubborn if he was born one of us, Emily."

"Oh please." Rusty rolled his eyes at him. "In no universe anywhere would I ever take advice from someone who cuts his own hair." He shook his head at his brother.

"See." Ricky said to his sister. "He even looked like Madison just then," he said of the cousin that was between their two ages. The three of them had grown up together and were still fairly close. "And he's never even met Maddy. Sometimes I think that he is more O'Dwyer than we are."

"Well," Rusty smirked at him. "You have been diluted by those unfortunate Raydor genes."

Emily's brows shot up. "Now he's starting to sound like grandpa. You could be on to something."

"You would be so lucky to have me in the gene pool." Rusty picked up his book bag as he stood. "Look, I have another class. Talk to Sharon or don't talk to Sharon. Whatever. I just thought that you should know."

Ricky watched him go before turning to his sister. "He's your little brother," he told her.

"Oh sure." Emily leaned back in her seat. "He's mine when he's difficult but let him do something cool and it's all _Ooh look what my little brother did_." She made a face at him. "You are so predictable. That was such a _Jack_ thing to say."

"You take that back." He stood up and dropped several bills on the table to cover the tip for their little coffee indulgence. "I'm definitely telling mom. I'm also going to tell her that you've been raiding her closet. I saw her red cashmere and her black Jimmy Choo boots."

Her jaw dropped open with a gasp. "You wouldn't!"

"Oh I definitely would." Ricky tossed a smirk back at her. "I think I am going to go and see our darling mother right now!"

She was tempted to leave him stranded, but then Emily remembered that they had ridden in Ricky's rental car. Buzz had taken his car to work that morning and Ricky was supposed to take her to pick it up later in the afternoon, before she had to be at the theater for her evening performance. Emily hurried after him. "Richard William Raydor, I will totally destroy you!"

Ricky turned. He walked backwards as he continued to grin, rather deviously, at his sister. "Oh, and what was that song about this morning? You know, the one that was being sung in the shower. I'm just curious… were the two of you in that shower together? If that was a solo performance, I am going to be really disturbed." As she darted after him Ricky turned and jogged toward the car. " _And I would walk 500 miles_ …" He sang teasingly.

"I totally begged our mother for a lemur," she complained. "She got me a baboon instead!"

The two of them bickered all the way downtown. They were still picking at one another when they arrived at the ninth floor Murder Room. Their topics of conversation had varied from Ricky's hair to Emily's boyfriend, shopping habits, cooking habits, what lane Ricky should be driving in, and how fast or slow he should be going.

As they walked through the Murder Room Ricky took a moment to look around. Most of their mother's team was present. Including his sister's boyfriend. He smirked happily and slanted a look at her. He drew a breath and opened his mouth, the song that he had tormented her with earlier on his lips again. " _Just to be the man_ —"

Emily grabbed her brother and all but shoved him into their mother's office. The result was the pair of them stumbling and practically falling into the room. "I should have traded you for a puppy when I had the chance!"

The commotion had Sharon looking up from the paperwork in front of her. Her team was looking through the information they spent the morning gathering on the Hollings and Owen couples. They were looking for any link between the two, be it social, financial, or professional. They needed anything that would prove that Hollings knew the victim. It would give them a starting point the next time that Sharon spoke to the man.

In the meantime, she cast a surprised look at her offspring. Her brows arched as she watched them. She was reminded of what she had said to Rusty the previous year. They truly were always three. It didn't matter how old they got, or how mature that they seemed to be, when together for any length of time without supervision it was as if they were both children again. To be fair, however, she and her own siblings had similar relationships.

Sharon clasped her hands in front of her while she watched them. When they finally turned toward her, Sharon tilted her head at them. "Yes?" She asked at length, prompting them to tell her why they were there, although they didn't truly _need_ a reason to visit her.

The siblings looked at one another. Now they had arrived at the moment and they hesitated. They stared at one another for several moments, communicating in a way that only two people who had grown up together, sharing the same triumphs, fears, and heartaches could. It didn't matter that there were three years between them; it had always been just the two of them. That alone had leant itself to making it, not difficult, but awkward when it came time for them to open themselves and accept Rusty into their fold.

Most of Emily's earliest memories involved her brother. She was only a toddler when he was born. For Ricky, there had always been Emily there, older and wiser, someone to tease and be teased by. They had fought, as brothers and sisters were inclined to do, but it had always been the two of them against the world. It was a world where their father was often away, and then he was gone. A place where they had huddled together at the top of the stairs, listening to their parents arguing, although they were meant to be asleep. There were shared memories of listening to their mother crying, although she had worked so hard to hide her tears from them. They had known, and while they had pretended that they hadn't, they had always known about all of her struggles and heartaches.

They had looked out for each other, as their mother had worked long hours, and many shifts to claw their way out of a debt created by their father; she had paid the mortgage and the tuition to their private school. There had been dance classes, costumes, little league and sporting gear. She had bought Ricky the computer, and equipment, and software that he needed to follow his programming dreams. There had been babysitters, and later they stayed home alone; always together, at least when there weren't rehearsals and practices, recitals and games. Somehow she managed to make it to all of those as well.

When Emily's first serious boyfriend had broken her heart because she would not have sex with him, and then spread vicious rumors that she had, Ricky had beaten the crap out of him. When his college girlfriend had cheated on him, it was Emily who had handled her. They fought, they teased, and they bickered, but let anyone else try and do the same and one of them was always there to handle it. When Ricky had broken his arm in third grade, falling out of a tree, it was Emily who had run the several blocks home, sprained her ankle tripping, and missed an important recital in her quest to get their mother. She had signed his cast before anyone else. At eighteen Emily had borrowed their mother's car without asking, and wrecked it. They had known that she would be grounded, and that their mother would cancel her summer trip to Europe with her Aunt Maureen. Ricky had taken the blame and spent the summer grounded, along with a resounding lecture for having been driving _underage_ and _without a license_. He spent the summer mowing lawns and working odd jobs to pay to have the car fixed. Emily had paid him back every cent when she got home, but it was a couple of years before they had finally come clean.

Miles apart had not changed how close they were. If anything, they were closer. As adults the years between them became a bit trivial, a teasing point. They were more equals now than they had been as children. More than family, friends in a way that outsiders would never understand. They had cried and laughed, hurt and played together.

In just a matter of seconds the decision was made. They both walked forward and took a seat in front of their mother's desk. Emily crossed her legs and folded her hands in her lap. "We talked to Rusty," she explained.

"He was concerned," Ricky continued. He sat forward, arms resting on his knees. "He said that you and Andy were fighting this morning?"

"Ah." Sharon sat back in her chair. She had hoped to get to Rusty before he sought his siblings out. He was already gone after she and Andy talked that morning. "I see." Sharon smiled gently at both of them. "That was just a misunderstanding. It is all cleared up now." That was more or less the truth. There was still much that they should talk about, to make sure that never happened again, but they were once again in sync.

"A misunderstanding?" Emily didn't look convinced. "Mom, Rusty said that he was slamming doors and you were crying. That doesn't sound like a misunderstanding to me."

"Sounds like a fight." Ricky tilted his head at her. It was the kind of fight that they were more or less familiar with. "You know, it's not like dad this time," he said. "You're not married."

She laughed. Their concern was touching. "I was _not_ crying, and yes there was a door slammed. We talked about it, and the situation is under control. Really." She waved a hand at them. "The two of you act like you've never had a relationship before. People argue. I will talk to Rusty," she told them. "I was hoping to get with him at some point today. He left this morning before I could do that."

"That purposefully cryptic explanation might work on Rusty," her eldest son pointed out, "but you forget that we were raised by you. We've known you our entire lives. We can tell when you're trying to put us off, Mom." Ricky gave her an almost amused grin.

"One," Sharon held up a finger as she looked at both of her children. "Raising two children is not something that anyone could forget; especially with all of the wonderful memories that I have of both of you. Number two," she continued, managing somehow to keep her tone carefully cheerful, despite the underlying warning note in it, "my relationship with Andy is none of your business. We are not going to discuss the specifics of the conversation that he and I had this morning."

"It is our business if he's acting like a jerk and treating you like crap," Emily said. "Mom, really?" She gave her a concerned look. "Been there, done that. You don't have to go through that again."

"Oh my god." Sharon shook her head at them. She was perfectly aware of the fact that she had held on to her marriage for longer than she should, but now she wondered that it had done more damage than she originally believed. "Listen to the two of you. While I am proud of you both, and deeply touched by your concern, it isn't necessary. I promise." Sharon leaned forward in her seat. "I am not being treated badly. Did we have a disagreement? Yes. Is Andy a hot-tempered pain in my backside sometimes? Indeed. What you are both failing to realize is that sometimes I am a neurotic and uptight pain in _his_ backside. We do not always get along one hundred percent of the time, but that does not mean that he is not deeply, deeply loved or that I am not loved in return. Everything is okay. More than okay, actually."

There was something in the way that she talked about him. It was in how her eyes would light up and her face would soften. It was in the gently lilting inflection of her voice, and how the husky undertones became more defined as emotion crept into her tone. The siblings looked at one another again. After a moment Emily shrugged. She believed her mother, but she was still dancing around the topic in a way. Emily tilted her head at her. "What did you fight about?" She asked again.

"You are relentless." Sharon rolled her eyes at them. "Completely stubborn, both of you!"

Ricky smirked at her. "Must be the O'Dwyer in us."

"It's the Raydor in you," She shot back. Sharon hummed as she sat there. Finally she groaned. "Okay, but what I say does not, and I mean this very seriously, it does _not_ leave this office." She pointed at the two of them and then stared hard at each one in turn until they had both nodded. "I need to speak to Rusty, and never have I been more serious, Richard, Emily. _I_ need to speak to him," she stressed. "That does not mean calling your grandparents, or your cousins, or your friends. Or your…" She waved a hand at Emily before making a face. "Buzz. This goes absolutely no further than this conversation. Am I clear?"

That was a little concerning. It made both of them sit straighter in their seats. Ricky nodded. "Of course, mom. What's going on?"

Sharon leaned forward on the edge of her seat. She clasped her hands together and rested them against the top of her desk. "Andy asked me to move in with him. Our misunderstanding this morning occurred when he misinterpreted my reluctance and concerns as a rejection. His feelings were hurt." She waved a hand through the air. "But it's all cleared up now."

Ricky's brows rose toward his hairline. "What?"

"Oh my god." Emily's eyes widened. It took her brain a moment to process that and reboot. "You must have said yes if you're wanting to talk to Rusty about it?" She asked carefully.

Her gaze dropped. Sharon studied the top of her desk while her fingers toyed idly with a pen. Her brows arched while she considered their responses. She supposed that it was a little surprising. Their father was in and out of her life so rarely while they were growing up. For as long as they had known her, Sharon had been more or less on her own. "I did, yes. It is not something that is going to happen overnight. There is a lot that we need to discuss. We are both homeowners, for example. We already know that the condo will have to be sold… and you know," she looked up again and leaned back in her chair. "It is all very preliminary, but yes that is going to be happening at some point in the immediate future."

While Emily had gone silent, Ricky was still trying to wrap his head around the turn that the conversation had taken. He glanced at his sister a couple of times, but found that she was just as astonished as he was. "So…" He really didn't even know what to say. "It's that serious?" Being told that his mother was dating, and experiencing the fact that his mother was dating, while also attempting to understand that his mother was in love with this guy was a lot for him to take in; it wasn't a bad thing, but his head was spinning.

Sharon didn't respond to that. Instead she crossed her legs and folded her arms across her chest. Her head tilted while she regarded both of her children. "Is that a problem?" She asked instead. Just as she would not allow Rusty to dictate where her relationship with Andy would go, she would not allow either of her older two children to have that luxury either.

"No." It was Emily that spoke up for both of them. "Not at all. It's just…" She shared a look with her brother again. "This is moving awfully fast, isn't it?"

Her lips pursed. That was a fair question. Sharon thought about it. She supposed from the outside it might seem like that. "I think," she began slowly, "that if we were much younger, that might be a valid concern. I think, too, that the fact that we have known each other for as long as we have is an important factor here. Simply put, we already spend the majority of our time together. It would just be wiser and more convenient to have a single residence." She stopped talking. Her mouth snapped shut. Sharon took a moment to just shrug at them. "The simplest truth that I can give you is just that we want to be together. No ulterior motives. No grand declarations. Just that."

She continued to watch them. They were staring at one another again, communicating in that way that they did, that they had since almost the moment that she had brought Ricky home from the hospital. A slow smile curved her lips, almost wistful in nature. There was a picture, tucked into a frame, on the corner of her dressing table of the two of them. Ricky was only about a week old. Emily was lying beside him on the bed. She was on her stomach, little hands tucked underneath her head while she watched him. Ricky was on his back, but his head was turned toward her and he was staring just as intently back. She remembered that moment. It was the first time that Emily had regarded her new brother as anything but an intruder. Whatever had passed between them in that moment, she couldn't say, but from then on, he had belonged to Emily.

Then of course she had promptly dressed him in her doll's clothes. Sharon had pictures of that too. Ricky had looked quite fetching in the bright yellow and pink polka dotted overalls and hat that Emily had taken off her Cabbage Patch Kid for that occasion. Sharon made a mental note to show those to Rusty the very next time that his brother was picking on him.

She decided not to wait for them to come to a decision. Sharon smiled brightly at her two eldest children and tilted her head at them. "So, please children may I?"

Emily slanted a look at her mother. She fluttered her lashes and simpered sarcastically at them. That was a clear sign that she was nearing the end of her patience. She was not asking their permission. She was informing them of a decision that she had already made. Emily's lips pursed. She sat straight in her chair and folded her arms across her chest. She crossed her legs and arched a brow at her mother. "I don't know," she replied, using the same tone. "It is an incredibly big decision, and what do we really know about this boy, Sharon Diane."

She opened her mouth to reply but was interrupted by a knock at her door. Sharon pointed a finger at her daughter. "You are so lucky right now. Yes, come in," she called out.

The door opened but revealed, not a person, but a very large bouquet of flowers. There were easily more than a dozen each of the deep, crimson roses and white Asiatic lilies in the arrangement, along with a spray of smaller, white decorative flowers and lush, rich greens. All of it was arranged in contrasting colors, each breathtaking, with their long stems contained in a clear, glass vase. From around the large bouquet of flowers a head finally appeared as the body holding them stepped into the office. Julio had a crooked grin plastered on his face. "There was a delivery for you ma'am."

Sharon's jaw had dropped open. She was completely speechless for a moment. She pointed at the corner of her desk. "There is fine," she managed after a moment. Her eyes tracked the movement of the flowers across the room. She waited until he had placed them on her desk before standing. "Thank you, Julio."

"You're welcome." He stood back, but continued to grin. "What did he do this time?" He clearly remembered, not too long ago, the Lieutenant _refusing_ to buy the flowers to get out of the doghouse. That was just for getting into an argument with her ex-husband. If he had actually bought the flowers this time, it begged the question of what he had done. He would have just asked him, but Flynn and Sykes weren't back yet from questioning the Owen's neighbors.

She rolled her eyes at him. "Thank you, Detective," she said, a little more pointedly. She watched him pout a little as he turned to leave her office. There were moments, like this one, when she thought that each of the men on her team was just a little boy at heart, despite their ages. Sharon was all too aware as she moved around the side of her desk to inspect the flowers that both of her children were watching her closely. She located the card easily enough and plucked it out of the bouquet. There was already a smile curving her lips as she drew it out of the envelope.

 _I'm sorry that I was a horse's ass. ~A_

It was clear in the way that her face lit up with the bright smile that tugged her lips upward that she had forgotten that she was not alone. Ricky watched his mother fussing over the flowers while holding the card against her chest and rolled his eyes. "Oh my god," he decided, "you are such a girl." He cast a pointed look at his sister. "She's going gaga over flowers. I say we let her move in with him."

"Well." Emily was smiling brightly too. "If she got flowers because they had a _minor misunderstanding_ this morning," she said, making air quotes, "then I think this one might be a keeper." She couldn't remember a single time that her father had sent or brought her mother flowers. Not after she was old enough to understand what that meant.

"Seriously?" Ricky stood up. "I am surrounded by girls," he decided. "I'm going to go find Rusty and wait for him to get out class. I need some more testosterone in my life."

Emily made a face at him. "I begged my mother…" she began, but didn't finish the sentence. She stood up and pulled the strap of her purse over her shoulder. "I need to get going too. I have a lot to do before tonight's show. We'll get ready for you to tell Rusty. You don't think that he's going to freak out, do you?"

Sharon sighed quietly. "I'm not entirely sure," she admitted. "I think at this point that it could go either way. I am hoping that he will understand."

"Well, good luck." Emily walked around her brother and leaned in to give her mother a hug. "I'm happy for you," she told her.

"Oh, thank you darling." Sharon hugged her back. "Don't worry about Rusty. I am sure that it will work itself out. Sometimes what he needs is a little bit of time to understand everything. If he comes to you, that is great, but I do not want him to feel ganged up on; I want to wait and see how this plays out. Okay?"

"Don't tell the spud, got it." Ricky smirked at her. "Question though…" There was a devious gleam in his eyes. "Can we tell dad?"

Emily whirled toward him. "No." There was exasperation written across her face. "Ricky! Why would you even want to do something like that? He's trying."

"Sure he is." Where his sister was always so ready to believe in their father, Ricky was always the skeptical one. He was always waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"He…" Emily stopped and just held up a hand. She did not want to argue with her brother about their father _again_. It was an old argument, one that would just put her in a foul mood and give her a headache. Instead she turned back to her mother. "I told you that I didn't want a little brother."

"Hm. Yes." Sharon's attention was on the flowers again. She smiled as her finger traced one, elegant rosebud. "I know darling. I told your father I wanted diamonds for my birthday that year too, but…" She waved a hand at Ricky.

"Oh god Mom! Gross!" Ricky shuddered. He swept around and leaned over, quickly kissing her cheek before heading for the door. "I am definitely out of here."

Emily was laughing as he hurried out of the office. "That was great. Well played." She shook her head and walked to the door at a more leisurely pace. "I'll see you tomorrow, maybe. Let me know how it goes with Rusty."

"Hm." She hummed in agreement. Sharon watched her go before turning her attention back to the flowers. The arrangement was rather large for the corner of her desk. They would fit better on the credenza behind it, but if she moved them, she could not readily see them. She fussed over them for a minute more before lifting the vase and placing it on the credenza. She slipped the card into her purse and reclaimed her seat.

The soft floral scent was already filling her office. A smile remained at her lips as she turned her attention back to the paperwork on her desk. There was going to be so much that needed to be done, but she was only beginning to feel more determined. Her hands itched to reach for her phone, but she had sent him into the field. That was a line that she would not cross, and it was one of those moments when keeping their professional and personal lives separate became, not difficult, but inconvenient. She wanted to thank him, and she reminded herself that she would. Maybe today, if they were not too busy, she would get him to take her to lunch.

In the meantime, while she filled in reports that were so familiar to her that she could do them in her sleep, her mind wondered over all of the things that needed to be done. She would talk to Rusty. Then she would have to contact her building manager, and a realtor. The condo would have to be sold. She didn't think that she wanted the hassle of leasing it. Of course, she reminded herself that she couldn't put it on the market too quickly. The units in her building rarely remained on the market for long. It was a prime location. The reality was that the condo would probably sell before she was ready for it too.

Her mind drifted toward Andy's small house. If it were just the two of them it would be perfect, but she was trying to imagine Rusty there with them. In all honesty, she had to wonder just how long would Rusty be living with her? He was turning twenty in the spring. He would always have a home with her, and she knew that there was a part of him, the boy who had been abandoned, that was clinging to that. At the same time, he was becoming a man. His need for independence was asserting itself. He would want to leave her soon. Sharon's heart ached at the thought. She didn't think that _she_ was ready for that. She wanted to hold on to him, for just a little while longer.

She pushed all of those thoughts aside when the Murder Room began filling up again. Sharon glanced at her watch and realized that some time had passed while she let her mind wander. She stood and left her office as Detective Sykes returned to her desk. It was time to get back to the business of solving a murder.

 **-TBC-**


	15. Chapter 15

**Leaping In**

 **by Kadi**

 **Rated T**

 **Disclaimer:** This is not my sandbox, this is just my favorite place to play. I promise to put all of the toys back when I'm done.

 **A/N:** There is a line that appears in this chapter that some might recognize from a meme... don't worry, it was my meme!

* * *

 **Chapter 15**

"Neighbors all say the same thing," Andy began the moment everyone was gathered in the murder room. He leaned against the side of his desk as he recounted what he and Sykes learned while canvasing the Owen's neighborhood. "Nice couple, no trouble, no arguments that anyone knows about. They're very involved in their country club, and a few charities. Mister Owen never missed a single Home Owner's Association meeting."

"They were even known to babysit for the couple across the street," Amy consulted her notes. "The Morenos. No one ever witnessed them fighting, at least not beyond the usual whose turn is it to drop off the dry cleaning argument."

That the detective's eyes were sparkling as she added the last bit made Sharon slant a look toward Andy. Her lips were pursed and her head tilted. She watched him bow his head and scratch the side of his nose. So he had discussed their morning discussion, at least in part, while out with Sykes. Those flowers were beginning to make sense now. Good, the man needed all the help that he could get.

Sharon shook her head before focusing on the others. "What do we know about the country club? Are the Hollings' also members?"

"Working on that," Andy told her. "The club is supposed to send over a list of members. It's a neighborhood country club though, so the chances are…"

"Even if both couples are members, that doesn't give us more than a talking point." Sharon walked toward the murder board. "It does not prove that they knew one another. We need to put Martin Hollings and Evelyn Owen together." She folded her arms across her chest and turned back to them. "The bullets that Doctor Morales took out of Donald Owen were the same caliber as those removed from Sue Hollings, but the ballistics did not match."

"That would be hard to do," Provenza pointed out, "When the psycho is taking apart the murder weapon." He swiveled around his chair to face the captain. "Something that we still do not have for the second murder," he reminded her.

"SID has been all over the Owen house and grounds," Tao stated. "There is no sign of the murder weapon or any casings."

Julio leaned forward in his chair. "There was no GSR on Mrs. Owen's hands either," he said. "No sign that she fired the weapon that killed her husband. I talked to her again this morning. She's still pretty distraught. If she's putting on an act, it's a good one." He couldn't find any holes to poke in it and he was usually pretty good at that.

"Basically, just like last time," Andy said, "we've got squat." He sighed loudly. "How the hell does that son of a bitch manage to keep sliding under the radar like this? He did it. We know that he did it."

"We are still faced with the burden of proof, Lieutenant." Sharon reminded him. "We cannot bring Martin Hollings in for questioning without some sort of evidence that he was involved in Donald Owen's murder. We cannot even question him about the murder without the risk of providing further fuel to the fire of his lawsuit. If we bring him in, it will substantiate his claims of prejudicial detainment. A fact that his lawyer would greatly enjoy, believe me."

"That's no lie." Andy rolled his eyes heavenward. Just the thought of her ex-husband made him grit his teeth in annoyance. Jack might be playing along with them at the moment, but that could change. Andy could just imagine the headaches that the bastard was going to end up causing them in the end by representing their number one suspect.

Sharon resisted the urge to roll her eyes at him. She could not say that she disagreed. "Let me know when we get the member list from the country club. If the Hollings _are_ members, then I want to send someone down to question the staff. Let's find out if they were ever there at the same time, and if they ever crossed paths."

They waited until the Captain left the Murder Room again. They basically had their orders for the time being. They were still playing the waiting game while putting together the information that they had. Julio leaned forward in his chair. His eyes were focused on the Lieutenant. "What did you do?"

Andy was bent over his desk flipping through his notes from the questioning he had done of the Owens's neighbors. He glanced at the Detective. "What do you mean?"

"Flowers." Provenza tilted his head at his partner. There was a knowing smirk at on his face. "You messed up. We want to know how badly."

"We only buy them flowers when we mess up really good," Tao pointed out. "Those were not just ordinary flowers." He had been married long enough to be able to spot the ordinary _I think you're wonderful_ bouquet and separate it from the _please don't shoot me_ arrangement. Tao turned in his chair to grin crookedly at the Lieutenant. The flowers that were delivered earlier definitely fell into the latter spectrum. "What did you do?"

"If I did anything, and I'm not saying that I did," Andy straightened and pointed his finger at all of them. "I'm not going to tell you jerks about it." He held his hands out. "Can't a guy just buy a lady flowers without everyone in their lives jumping to conclusions?"

"Sure." Provenza leaned forward. "Except when that guy is _you_." He pointed a finger at his partner. "I know you."

"Then I shouldn't have to tell you anything," Andy fired back.

"You're being too quiet." While everyone else was focused on Andy, Julio was looking at Sykes. His eyes narrowed as he studied her. She was smiling widely. There was an amused gleam in her eyes. Julio shot out of his chair suddenly. "You know what he did! He told you, didn't he? Come on Sykes. Give it up."

"What?" She snorted at him. "Of course not. I don't know what you're talking about." Sykes turned her attention back to her desk. "Although," she began, "hypothetically speaking, if someone was to fight with his girlfriend because she hadn't taken his favorite tie to the cleaners, I might recommend admitting that he's a jackass and buying flowers as a way to _begin_ the apology process."

"Sykes!" Andy scowled at her. "You weren't supposed to tell. That was just between us." It didn't even begin to scratch the surface of what the argument was about, but he wasn't going to tell her _everything_. He had only given her the highlights while asking her opinion, as a woman, of what he should do to make it up to Sharon.

"I knew it!" Provenza slapped the surface of his desk. "There was no way that _you_ picked out _those_!" He pointed at the flowers that were on display in the captain's office.

"I didn't let Sykes pick them out either." Andy glared at him. "You act like you've never had to buy flowers for being a jerk before."

"Well, he has been married… how many times?" Buzz had decided to stay out of it, but that one couldn't go by without any comment.

"Don't think just because you're shacking up with the Captain's daughter that she won't fire you." Provenza made a face at him. "Sooner or later little miss _Dancing Queen_ is going back to New York and your free pass is going to end pal."

"Yeah, that's never going to happen." Andy snorted. "Keep dreaming old man. She'll get rid of you before she gets rid of Buzz." He knew, pretty much first hand, just how fond Sharon was of the younger man, and that was before Buzz was dating her daughter. "I didn't let Sykes pick out the flowers," he continued. "All I did was call the florist and give him my card. I told him not to go over a certain limit. I might have also said… you know… that my girlfriend carries a gun so I needed the most expensive flowers he had."

"That is something," Tao stated, "that _you_ would do." He was shaking his head as he turned back around in his chair. "Doesn't count when you don't pick them out yourself. Try harder."

"What? Of course it counts." Andy scowled at the back of his head. "Who says it doesn't count?"

"Every woman on the planet." Provenza turned his attention back to his crossword. "That was lazy. Half-assed almost. See, you might have only been mildly in the doghouse before, but now you are going so far beyond that point that you might as well get comfortable sleeping in the grass, my friend."

Even Julio was nodding slowly when the Lieutenant looked at him. "It was kind of lame, sir. Better luck next time though. Hey! I'm proud of you. Last time you wouldn't even go this far. Big points… just not enough. I'd even let you bunk at my place, but when my mom heard what you did, she'd probably hit you with her handbag."

"I hate all of you," Andy decided. He dropped into his chair and turned his attention to his computer. They were all laughing behind him. "You can all go to hell," he grumbled.

 **MCMCMCMCMCMC**

When Sharon stepped into the condo that evening she was juggling the flowers along with her purse and keys. She managed to make it inside without dropping anything and placed her keys and purse in the alcove by the door before carrying the flowers to her desk. She set them there for the time being. She took a moment to fuss over them before walking through the apartment.

"Rusty," she called on her way to the bedroom. "Are you home?" Sharon shrugged out of her blazer and dropped it across the foot of her bed and stepped out of her heels before returning to the hall. The day had turned busy just before lunch and so there had not been the opportunity to spend time with Andy. He was bringing dinner, but she had asked him to give her a couple of hours. She wanted to talk to Rusty first about what he had seen that morning and the reason behind it.

His door was cracked open. It was something that he did when he was home and thought that he might not hear her knock because he had his earphones in. Rusty was just tugging the buds out of his ears when Sharon appeared in his door. "Hey." He shifted awkwardly on his bed. Emily had only sent him a simple text earlier that day stating that she talked to their mother and everything was okay. She had not elaborated and he had not asked. "I didn't hear you," he explained unnecessarily. "Did you just get home?"

"I did." She stepped further into the room. "How was class?" There were a number of books spread out on the bed in front of him. He seemed to be fully involved with studying. Sharon hated to disturb him for longer than necessary, but this was important.

"British Lit." Rusty made a face at her. "The text is more interesting than the lecture. History is usually okay. Business calculus, oh my god!" His nose screwed up. "Tell me again why I let Buzz convince me that would be a better alternative to College Algebra?"

Sharon chuckled quietly. "It is meant to be easier. I take it that you are not liking it?"

"It's math." That was all he said, as if it would explain everything. Rusty was not the biggest fan of the subject, as she well knew. He didn't care if it was the basis for logic, which he used when he played chess, he still didn't like it. Rusty tilted his head at her as she moved closer to the bed. "You don't really want to talk about my classes, do you?" She was more pensive than curious.

"No, I do." Sharon smiled warmly at him. "I am glad that they are going well. Not every class that you take is going to be enjoyable, but sadly they are required. I remember wondering why on earth I had to take Biology if I was going to be a lawyer. I do feel your pain." She folded her arms across her chest. "Can I sit?"

"Sure." Rusty reached out and gathered up the books on that side of the bed. He stacked them and moved them to his other side. "I guess Biology doesn't much help with being a police officer either?"

"More than you know, actually." She smiled as she sat down. Sharon crossed her legs. "It gets me through some of Lieutenant Tao or Doctor Morales's more technical explanations." When he laughed she rested her folded arms atop her knee. "Rusty, about this morning…"

"Sharon, really, we don't have to talk about it," he said. "Emily already told me that everything was okay. That's all I really need to know. I'm not going to say that it wasn't weird to see the two of you fighting like that, because it was, but if you are okay with everything, I'm good too."

He was trying so hard to stay on the periphery of her relationship with Andy, and there were times when she truly appreciated that. Sharon reached out and laid a hand on his arm. "We are good. What you saw this morning was an unfortunate misunderstanding. I won't say that it will be the last, but I don't want you to worry that because Andy and I are disagreeing that anything bad is going to happen. You and I have had some very interesting arguments too, as you may recall."

"Oh yeah." Rusty chuckled. They had especially argued when he first came to stay with her. The thing that he had come to learn about Sharon, though, was that he could get as mad at her as he wanted and she would not turn him away. They would eventually talk about it and work through everything. Rusty chewed on the inside of his lip. He wondered if that was how it was with Lieutenant Flynn too. "Sharon, it really is okay. It's not like I thought that he was going to hurt you or anything. If I thought that, I never would have left this morning." He looked up at her through his lashes. "I mean, he's kind of old, I could totally take him if that was the case. That isn't the only kind of hurt that I worry about."

"I know." She reached up and touched the tips of her fingers to his chin. She also knew why he would be on the lookout for that. She did not need her child to protect her, however, and certainly not from a man who would never dream of hurting her. Rusty knew that, and this was his way of acknowledging it. "Sometimes when we love someone, deeply, our emotions can—"

"Sharon, please, god…" Rusty made a face at her. "I am begging you. I don't need to know about your relationship. I get it, okay? Really, I do, and it's okay. You guys can do your thing, and I am going to be over here pretending I know absolutely _nothing_ about it."

She laughed at him. He really was just a nineteen-year-old boy. She knew that Andy worried about how Rusty felt about them, the truth was, he felt just like any other boy his age would. He didn't want to feel _anything_ about it. "Well," she began carefully, "that is the thing, Rusty. I am afraid that you and I need to discuss that relationship. The reason that Andy and I argued this morning is because his feelings were hurt by something that I said. He mistook my meaning, and we have since cleared it up, but things are going to be changing around here…" She drew a breath and let it out slowly. "For one thing, we are not going to be living here for much longer." She took his hand and held it. "Andy has asked me to move in with him, and that is something that I very much would like, and intend, to do."

Rusty stared at her. For just a moment it was like she was speaking another language. He blinked a few times. This was something that people did sometimes when they were in a relationship, at least as far as he was aware. It was not something that he, personally, had ever experienced. Emily was living with Buzz, although that was supposed to be temporary. His other mother had lived with a few boyfriends over the years, although never successfully. Rusty swallowed hard. He looked down at his hand clasped in Sharon's. Suddenly his palm felt clammy. "Is…" He didn't want to ask. His heart was beating so hard in his chest that it hurt. "Is this my notice?" When she didn't seem to understand he shrugged at her. "You once promised to give me thirty days notice, if I had to leave."

Sharon's eyes widened. "No, Rusty…" She let go of his hand so that she could cup his face between both of her palms. "No, no," she assured him. "Of course not. Honey, look at me." His eyes had grown bright. Her heart ached. She could have done this better, but she was as new to this as he was. "Rusty, you will always have a home with me for as long as you want one. No matter where I am. As long as I am on this earth, I will always have room for you. Understand?"

He nodded slowly. Rusty swallowed hard. His throat ached. His jaw clenched. "Is that why you were fighting? Because of me? I mean, you say that, but the Lieutenant…"

" _Andy_ ," she corrected, because he had been told a dozen times that he could call the Lieutenant that when they were not at work. "Absolutely not. Andy understands that where I go, you go. Trust me, Rusty, the argument that we had this morning was about he and I, and nothing else. The only question that really remains is whether or not you want to go with me." She let go of his face to clasp both of his hands in hers. "As much as it hurts my heart to think about it, you are getting older. You'll be twenty in the spring and I have had to force myself to consider the fact that you may not want to go with me. Or even if you do, that it may not be for very long."

"I hadn't really thought about it," Rusty admitted. "We never really talked about it. I guess I just… I kind of thought that I would be living with you until I finished school. I mean, I could live in the dorm. I just haven't really made up my mind about where I'm going after I leave Santa Monica." It was only a two-year college. He would need to transfer to a larger university after finishing his associates degree.

"You don't have to. Not yet." Sharon gave his hands a squeeze before letting go of them. "Rusty the decision is yours. It would be beneficial to you to live in the dorm at some point. I will not deny that. If you want my honest opinion, the fact that you have _not_ considered moving out is a very good indication that you just are not ready. There is nothing wrong with that. I am rather more comfortable with that idea, but this is not about me. It is about you. What do _you_ want?"

Rusty looked down again. He rubbed his hands against his jeans and then he started picking at one of the seams. Did he want to move out? No, he really didn't. He felt like he had only just found his home, he wasn't ready to make one of his own. He didn't want to be a third wheel either; Sharon was obviously very much into this relationship with Lieutenant Flynn. If she was going to move in with him, did they really need him tagging along? "But Sharon," he began again, "Andy…"

"Only needs to know if he should sell his house so that we can get something bigger," she remarked casually. Sharon tipped his face up and smiled at him. "I promise you. That is the extent of his hesitation. The condo has to go, obviously. I am not going to continue sharing a bathroom with the two of you, and honestly, I should have moved into a bigger unit after you came to live with me. I am surprised we made it this long with one bathroom."

"So am I." Rusty gave her a small smile. Sometimes having her makeup laying all over the place was a real pain. "Sharon…" He shrugged and looked down again. "If you're sure that it is okay, I think that I would rather stay with you for a little while. I just feel like I was on my own for long enough, and I'm not ready to do it again. Not yet."

"Okay." It was all that she needed to know. She felt as if a weight was lifted from her shoulders. It was such a relief that she would not be losing him yet. She wasn't ready for that. Sharon stood, but lingered for a moment. She cupped his cheek. "I meant what I said, Rusty. There will always be a place for you with me. You're stuck with me now kiddo."

"Yeah." A crooked smile tugged at his mouth. "I guess I'm just kind of stuck with the Lieutenant now too, huh?"

"Hm." Her lips pursed. Sharon shrugged a single shoulder. "I am afraid so. Where I go, he goes. It is becoming something of a thing. We are still working out all of the details."

"Sharon." Rusty shook his head at her. "It isn't becoming anything. It already is. He's gone everywhere you've gone for a long time. You were just the only one who didn't notice it."

"Well I am noticing it now." Sharon turned toward the door. "Andy is bringing dinner, but you have time to finish studying before he gets here. I think we are going back to his house afterward. Do you have plans this weekend?"

"TJ wants to see Emily's show." Rusty rolled his eyes. "I told him we could go. I didn't think anyone but you actually _liked_ ballet. Emily said that she would get us some really good seats. I'm not sure if that frightens me or not. On Saturday Buzz is supposed to help me with a paper for my Intro to Film class, and then…" Rusty shifted where he was sitting. "Um… I'm going on the ride-along with him and Amy."

"What?" Sharon was leaning in his door. She stepped back into the room upon hearing that. "When was this decided? Why was I not told? Rusty, I really do not think that this is a good idea. Ride-alongs are dangerous, and while I trust both Buzz and Detective Sykes, this is not something that you do for fun." Neither officer had mentioned it to her, either, and her son was only just telling her about it. That didn't sit well with Sharon.

"It's not for fun," Rusty told her. "It's research. I'm doing a story for my journalism class on the public perception of the police. I am with you and the others all the time, but that doesn't tell me how the public really relates to you. I have my opinions of the police, but I am supposed to be objective, right? Who better for me to ride out with than Buzz and Amy? Come on, Sharon. She helped train me for my SIS operation a couple of years ago. Amy has totally got my back, and Buzz… seriously? It's _Buzz_ , Sharon. He is like, totally, my best adult friend. I am totally okay with him and you know that. Besides…" Rusty took a breath. This was the part where he was treading dangerously. "A person only has to be eighteen to join the LAPD. I could totally do that, if I were inclined, which I am totally _not_. That is not ever happening, trust me," he said, when she looked a little panicked at the thought. "What I am saying is, at eighteen, I could put on a uniform. The department only requires for me to be eighteen to do the ride-along. I am nineteen, Sharon. I'm closer to twenty than I'm not. It will be okay."

She wanted to stomp her foot and forbid it. The issue wasn't with who he was going with, it was that he would be out there without her. She wouldn't be there to keep _her_ eye on him. She would feel so much better about doing this ride-along if he were doing it with her. That was the point, however. He wasn't asking _her_. He was asking those who were closer to being his peers. Rusty did not want his mother looking over his shoulder all of the time. He wanted to do things for himself. This was one of those things. At the same time, she had to acknowledge that he had chosen trustworthy people with whom to have that experience. Sharon groaned quietly. "Okay," she said finally. "But… what if I ask Amy to switch with Andy, and…"

" _Sharon_." Rusty rolled his eyes at her. "Really?"

He couldn't blame her for trying. Even if she had known that it wouldn't work, Sharon had to give it her very best attempt. "Very well." She resisted the urge to pout. "I want you to listen to everything that they tell you, though. Do exactly as they say," she pointed her finger at him. "You will wear a vest, and under no circumstances are you to take it off until you are back in the PAB. Are we clear?"

Rusty grinned at her. "Yes mom." At least she hadn't told him that he couldn't go. He really didn't think that she would. Sometimes, though, it took Sharon a while to realize that he wasn't a kid. "It will be okay," he told her.

"We will see." She turned again. "And watch your tone buster, unless you want _me_ to switch with Amy."

He laughed. "In the words of Buzz, God no!" She shot a playful glare at him from over her shoulder and he just grinned widely. Rusty pulled his books back into his lap. He sat there for just a moment before he reached for his phone. His siblings were _not_ going to believe this one. If they thought that the dating was news, they had not seen anything yet.

 **MCMCMCMCMCMC**

Dinner was a sedate and casual affair compared to the hours leading up to it. Rusty didn't question the move any further, and sensing that he was still thinking about their conversation, despite his agreement to go with her, Sharon steered the conversation away from that topic. Afterward she and Andy left, in separate cars, and drove to Echo Park.

Sharon packed an overnight bag because it had been long enough since the last time she spent the night at Andy's that she could not remember what clothes were on hand. She smiled to think that it would not be an issue much longer. Soon enough there would no longer be this back and forth between their two homes. They would have a single home. It was an exhilarating concept. She was as giddy about it as she was anxious. It was a big step, but one that she was very much looking forward to.

She parked her car in the driveway beside Andy's and took her bag inside before going in search of him. She had changed before dinner and wore a simple, knit top with a pair of jeans. She had pulled on a beige cardigan before leaving the house and pulled it around her as she stepped out onto his back porch. The lights in the garage were on. He was only a few minutes ahead of her, but that had given him enough time to slip outside before she arrived. Sharon smiled as she left the porch and walked across the yard.

She would need to check the rooms again. The second bedroom might not be too small. It would be a shame if he had to give up that garage, she thought. He really did like to lose himself puttering in it. She was rather fond of that fact, or more to the point, she was fond of the fact that he enjoyed it. She also liked how often she found him there, body bent over some project or another, a t-shirt stretched tight across his shoulders and back. It was an aesthetic pleasure, but she would acknowledge that it existed.

Sharon stepped into the garage, a smile already curving her lips upward. "There you are," she teased. "You could not give me another five minutes to catch up with you? You're already out here finding something else to do?" Her eyes sparkled teasingly at him. She moved between a row of workbenches toward the back of the room. He was fussing with a door that she had always believed opened into a closet.

"Hey." He grinned at her. "Come here." He reached out to take her hand with one of his, but shoved the door open with his other. "This thing sticks, but I could fix it. So, I was thinking…" Andy curled his hand around hers and tugged her into his side. "You know, where we would store some stuff, if we sold your place first. Then I remembered this damned thing, and that got me thinking about the kid." He nodded his head toward a narrow, dusty staircase in front of them. "There's a loft over the garage."

The dirt and cobwebs had Sharon taking a step back. Her nose wrinkled. "Andy, I am not going up there." If he wanted to show her storage space he could clean it first. In fact, he _would_ clean it before he attempted to place anything of hers up there.

He rolled his eyes at her. "What? Scared of a little dirt?" Andy shook his head at her. "Come on." He gave her hand a tug and pulled her along behind him. "You really need to see this." The stairway was dimly lit by a single bulb that was hanging over their heads. In deference to Sharon he knocked cobwebs out of their way as he moved up the narrow space. At the top of the staircase Andy stopped. He reached onto the wall just inside the loft until his hand encountered another light switch. He flipped it on. A single row of fluorescent lights flickered before coming on with a low buzz. "I mean, it needs some work. A lot of work," he acknowledged, "but it isn't a bad space." Andy moved further into the loft and pulled Sharon with him. "What do you think?"

She had her sweater pulled tightly around her and was trying very hard not to touch anything. The dust that they kicked up as she moved further into the loft tickled her nose. "It needs more than work, Andy. It needs to be hosed down," she told him. She moved nearer the center of the space and stood there. She turned slowly and cast her gaze around the open area. It was rather large. It seemed to cover the entire expanse of his garage. It was one large room with a built in shelving unit on one wall. It looked as if it had never been finished. The wood rafters and wall beams were visible to the eye. "What exactly was your idea?"

Sharon didn't look convinced. Andy slipped his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "The walls need to be finished, and so does the ceiling. It wouldn't hurt to put down some tile or wood flooring. I was actually thinking about Rusty. There isn't a kitchen, but that isn't a problem, he's got the house for that. There's a small bathroom over there," he nodded to what looked like a closet. "All of the plumbing should probably be replaced. I never had the water turned on out here. The people who built the garage put this up here as an apartment to be rented out. They never finished it. Hell, the garage itself was only about half finished when I bought this place. All of the exterior was done but I had to finish the inside and install the doors. I didn't really bother with this," he nodded his head to the open space. "I didn't need it for storage. I closed it off. I had to move that big tool cabinet of mine to get to it." Andy walked over toward the back wall. There was an outline for a door that had never been installed. "The idea in the original plans called for an outside entry point. That wouldn't be hard to do. The kid could come and go as he pleased."

Her mouth opened and closed. Her brows were drawn together in a small frown while she tried to understand what he was telling her. "Wait." She pointed a finger at him and then at the room. Her hand moved in a circle as she encompassed the entire space. "You want to finish the apartment for Rusty?"

"Well yeah…" Andy shrugged at her. "If he wants to. The kid doesn't have to take it. It's just an idea. We can still sell this place and find something bigger, but I was just thinking that the—Rusty," he corrected, "likes having his own space, yeah? He doesn't like walking in on you and me, even when we're just watching a movie together. He would be with us, but he would have all of this space to himself too. Plus…" Andy shifted uncomfortably. "He could, you know, date and have some place to bring that person without it being _mom's house_."

"I…" Sharon turned slowly where she stood again. She looked at the room anew. She tried to imagine it finished. It would give Rusty a taste of living on his own, but he would still be near to her. "Andy," she spoke quietly with an almost breathless quality to her voice. "It is an awful lot of work. Rusty may still move out in a couple of years. Are you sure?"

"Why not?" He walked toward her. "I mean, think about it. After Rusty moves out, it's just an extra guest room, right? The kids are not always going to be single. Charlie will get married someday, and so will Ricky probably. Rusty too, I'm sure." It went without saying that they didn't know how Emily's relationship was going to work out. "They will have kids of their own. When they visit…"

There would never be a question of whether or not there was room for everyone. With Emily and Ricky home for Christmas the previous year Sharon's condo was bursting at the seams. Had her daughter not stayed with Jack, she wasn't sure where she would have put everyone, and she detested the idea of her children staying in a hotel. As she had told Rusty, there would always be room with her for all of them. What drew her attention the most was the fact that he was thinking ahead. He was looking down the road, not just months, but years. He was talking about a future where they were still together, where their children would be welcome, and as she thought about it, Sharon realized that she could see it too.

She had not allowed herself to dream too far ahead. She was living in the present. She wanted a life with this man, but had not yet allowed herself to imagine what that would be like. Sharon did that now. She considered the yard and the house. She would want to put her touches on both of them, if this house was going to belong to both of them. If this _home_ was going to be theirs; his confirmed bachelor motif was not going to work for her, but she imagined that he was already aware of that. Sharon closed her eyes and she could hear laughter. She could see a future filled with happiness.

"Yes." Her eyes opened and she looked at him. She could see that her silence had started to worry him. She smiled brightly and moved the few steps that would close the distance between them. "I think that would be a wonderful idea." Sharon moved her arms around his waist and leaned into him. It would take time to remodel the loft, but Rusty could stay in the house while it was done. He could help, make the space his own. She imagined that he would very much like that. Sharon thought that it might make him feel more a part of this. She could sense that he felt on the edge of it all; he would feel less like he was tagging along and more like a member of this family. Wasn't that what they were slowly, and carefully, pulling together? A family of her children and his, and all of the people in both of their lives that were important to them. Her children were her heart and he was finding a way to keep them close to her. "I love you," she whispered.

Andy slipped a hand into her hair while his other settled against her hip. His lips brushed against her temple. "Me too," he rumbled thickly. If he had thought about this sooner, he could have avoided the fight they had that morning. He was too wrapped up in his worry to really think of anything but how it would feel when she turned him down. It never occurred to him that she might say yes. He really was an idiot sometimes, but he also couldn't help but think that he didn't deserve her. That was a thought that crossed his mind constantly. Whatever he had done to gain her heart, he made a note to keep doing it. He would do anything that he could to make her happy. Finishing the loft was simple. If it put that smile on her face, he would turn it into whatever the kid wanted.

She hummed quietly. Her arms tightened around him. "But…" Sharon tipped her head back. Her brows rose in concern. "You will clean it first, right?"

He snorted a laugh. "Yeah, don't worry. I won't make the kid live with the cobwebs." Andy rolled his eyes at her. "I will clean the damned loft, sweetheart."

"Thank you." She leaned into him again. Sharon looked at the space around them. "It really is a lovely idea," she said, voice thick with emotion. "Thank you for that…"

Andy tipped her head back and dropped a kiss onto her mouth. "Come on, I'll get you out of here." Andy turned her toward the door and guided her out. He shook his head as he realized just how stiffly she held herself to keep from touching anything on the way back down the narrow staircase. He made a mental note to clean that too. She really did have a problem with the idea that there might be spiders lurking in the shadows. Andy decided to have the garage fumigated too. He liked having her with him out there, and while the bugs didn't bother him, they obviously bothered her.

Once they were out of the garage he dropped an arm around her shoulders. When she wrapped both of hers around his waist, he pressed a kiss to the top of her head. Andy smiled as they made the walk across the yard. Already it was feeling a lot less like _his_ house and a lot more like _their_ house. When he bought it, he had hoped it would be a space for a family. It had just taken a long time for him to rebuild the relationships he had with his kids and ex-wife. Charlie and Nicole hadn't spent a lot of time with him here. There were moments when the house felt like too much, but he didn't like the idea of living in an apartment so he had held on to it.

It was not the family that he imagined he would have when he first moved in. Nor had he expected that it would take almost two decades for him to fill this space. He supposed that this was a perfect example that all things happened in their own time. He had Charlie and Nicole back in his life, and now his daughter had a family of her own. There was Sharon now too, and all that she was bringing with her, the kids and her history.

No, it was not what he had imagined. But it was exactly what he wanted.

 **-TBC-**


	16. Chapter 16

**Leaping In**

 **by Kadi**

 **Rated T**

 **Disclaimer:** This is not my sandbox, this is just my favorite place to play. I promise to put all of the toys back when I'm done.

* * *

 **Chapter 16**

It was the incessant ringing of a telephone that drew Andy out of a comfortably deep slumber that night. He had gone to bed with Sharon after indulging in a long, hot shower, something that she had insisted upon after being dragged into the loft above his garage. He had gone to sleep with her back nestled in against his chest, the always cold feet tucked under his legs, and an arm draped around her waist. At some point he had moved, as was his habit, and he was on his back with an arm thrown over his head. He wasn't sure how long the phone had been ringing, and it was not so much a ring as it was the constant, cheerful playing of the same ringtone over and over again.

As his mind climbed out of the sleepy fog that it was in, Andy realized that it was not the sound of his cellphone that had awakened him, but the elbow that was being driven into his side. He grunted but didn't move. He didn't bother to open his eyes either. "It will stop," he muttered.

To punctuate his statement the ringtone started playing again. This time she reached back and shook him. Sharon was still lying on her side facing the wall. She turned her face into the pillow and groaned. She recognized the ringtone as the one that he reserved for Provenza. "You and I both know," she mumbled sleepily, "that he is just going to keep calling until you answer." Sharon pulled the blanket more firmly around her body and wriggled back until she was closer to his warmth. "Answer it." Phone calls from his partner in the middle of the night did not always mean that work was involved. There was at least one occasion that she could recall when his partner had needed a ride home from a bar. He hadn't wanted to call home and wake Patrice, so he had _so thoughtfully_ called Andy instead.

He grunted. Andy reached blindly onto the table beside his bed until his fingers wrapped around the cellphone. He pulled it over, cursing quietly when the charge cord got snagged on a corner of the table. Andy pulled the charger free and lifted the phone where he could see it. He hissed as he turned on the display. His eyes squinted shut against the sudden bright light. "Dammit to hell." Now he was seeing spots. He closed his eyes for a moment and waited for his vision to clear.

Sharon nudged him with her foot. "Such language. Did you kiss your mother with that mouth?" She turned her face into the pillow again when the light from his phone filled the room.

"Nope." Andy grumbled. "But I kiss my Captain with that mouth." He lifted his leg and laid it over hers to keep her from nudging him again. He heard her snort as he answered the call. "It is after one o'clock in the morning. What could you possibly want?"

Provenza wasn't any happier about being awake than his partner was, but he took exception to the tone, which was a lot grumpier than usual. "For someone whose girlfriend just agreed to move in with him," he drawled, sarcasm heavy in his voice, "you sure don't sound very chipper."

Andy's jaw clenched. "How the hell do you know about that?" It hadn't even been a day yet. He hadn't even told his kids. Sharon had only just told hers. How could Provenza know about it already? He was good, but he wasn't _that_ good.

"How do I ever find out anything?" Provenza rolled his eyes. "Don't be dense. Use your brain. I know it hurts, but you do have one, even if it only occasionally works."

"You know," Andy scrubbed a hand over his face. "I am really not in the mood. Either tell me what is going on or I am hanging up and going back to sleep." He was tempted to do that anyway. When Sharon reached back and nudged him again, because he was being exceptionally grumpy, he glared at the back of her head. She was the one still dozing. She wasn't listening to his partner.

"Oh god." Provenza groaned. "Buzz, you moron. Rusty told his sister and _she_ told her boyfriend. How else would I find out this time of night? Anyway, we don't have time to talk about that right now. Martin Hollings slipped his protection detail. They have no idea where he is. Wake up the little woman and get down here. We need to find him before he offs someone else."

"How the hell did he…" Andy broke off mid-shout because he had been nudged again, this time with a bony little elbow. He scowled at its owner. "Fine. I'm on my way." He paused for a moment and considered everything else his partner said. "I'm telling her you said that."

"As if I am afraid of her." Provenza rolled his eyes again. "I have called that woman worse, and to her face. Hey, she's the one doing the crime, and that means that she can put up with the time. Hurry up, we don't have all night."

Andy glared at his phone for several moments after his partner hung up on him. "If I retired, I would never have to wake up to the sound of his voice again," he mused.

Sharon snorted quietly. "No, but you would go completely mad with boredom." She sighed and rolled onto her back. "I am not going back to sleep, am I?"

"Nope." He looked over at her. His phone was still illuminating the room. "Martin Hollings ducked out on his detail. Provenza wants me to, and I'm quoting here, get the _little woman_ out of bed and get to work."

"Ha!" Sharon laughed. "I will eventually make him pay for that." She closed her eyes and lay there for a moment longer before sitting up. "I am not going to ask how Hollings got away from his detail unnoticed. Rusty did it more than once, and he was only a seventeen-year-old boy. What I am going to want is those officers in my office just as soon as we can arrange it."

There was an edge of steel in her voice that usually made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. At the moment Andy was too busy nodding. He had a few questions for those idiots too. Had they not made it abundantly clear that Hollings was to be watched every minute? Andy swept the blankets back with an irritated sigh and got out of bed. He watched Sharon do the same, and despite how frustrated he was, he took a moment to admire the way his t-shirt barely reached her thighs. His eyes tracked her movements as she walked around the room to join him at the closet. Her hair was tousled and curling; when she swept it back from her face he grinned. Andy reached into the closet and pulled out a suit before moving out of her way. He stepped back to watch her. She only had a couple of outfits to choose from. He watched her pull out a red blouse and black pencil skirt.

When she turned and found him watching her, Sharon's brows rose. "What?" The crooked grin that was spreading across his face told her exactly what he was on his mind. There was no time for _that_ however. Sharon laid her clothes on the bed and tilted her head at him. "Andy?"

"Nothing." His grin became a smirk as he reached for her. He tugged her over and let his hands slide beneath the t-shirt. She was rolling her eyes at him but she was smiling. She was laughing when he tugged it over her head. Andy dropped a kiss to her upturned mouth and stepped back again. "Just saying hello."

He was so adorably ridiculous sometimes. She adored him for that. Sharon shook her head as she moved around him. Her hand trailed down his back. "Well then, hello." If she let her tone drop, grow thick and heavy in that way that he liked, she just tossed a teasing grin back at him to acknowledge that she had done it on purpose.

He laughed as she moved into the bathroom to do something about that hair. "You should probably know," he said, talking through the open door while she pulled on a robe and looked through her cosmetic bag, "Provenza already knows that you're moving in."

Sharon stopped and looked up. She stared at herself in the mirror's reflection for a moment before turning her gaze toward Andy. "How…" She stopped. "Buzz." Sharon shook her head. It was not a secret, but the decision was just barely made. She turned back to the mirror and pulled her hair back before laying out everything that she would need to make herself presentable, at least to her mind.

Andy joined her a moment later and leaned past her to reach for his comb. He watched as the vanity filled up and shook his head. The odds were pretty high that she would leave all of it lying out when she was finished. "You know…" His dark eyes glittered as they found hers in the mirror. "There's enough room in here to add a second vanity."

"Hm." She folded her lips together as she leaned close to the mirror. "Are you trying to say that you have some problem sharing a bathroom with me, Andy Flynn?"

He might be an idiot. He might also be a little slow on the uptake at times. At least, Andy thought, he could say with complete certainty that he often learned from his mistakes. He arched a brow at her as he ran the comb through his hair. "Nope," he said simply. "No problem at all, sweetheart. What I am saying is that you drive me absolutely up the wall every time you leave your makeup laying out everywhere." The corners of his mouth twitched. His dark eyes continued to sparkle. "I'm just willing to compromise, that's all."

"Mmhmm." She hummed. "I see." Sharon lowered her foundation rush and tilted her head at him. Her lips pursed thoughtfully. "That is an excellent suggestion. You get right on that. In the meantime, I am going to leave all of this," her eyes glittered back at him as she waved a hand at the cosmetics laid out on the vanity, "sitting right here. We will call it incentive. What do you think?"

Andy rolled his eyes at her as he tossed the comb back onto the counter. "I think I walked right into that one," he said drily. He shook his head as he stepped around her and out of the bathroom again, but not before his arm circled her waist and drew her against him. He turned his face into her neck, not the sensitive spot just beneath her ear, but the ticklish spot just at the crook, above her collarbones. He nuzzled until she laughed and pushed him away from her.

The bathroom door closed behind him and Andy chuckled. She would emerge fully made up, and probably with her hair tamed in some way that would completely baffle him. She would look flawless and fresh, and not at all as if she had been pulled out of bed at an ungodly hour of the morning and with too little sleep. The rumpled, tousled woman that had just rolled out of bed would be left behind. He didn't know how she did it, and if he hadn't watched her do it dozens of times he would swear that she wasn't human. She was, however. He thought that maybe that version of her was his favorite, sleepy and fresh faced. It was something just for him, and nothing else that the rest of the world would ever see.

It wasn't a bad way to start the day, as far as getting woken up in the middle of the night went. He thought about that as he moved through the house and stepped into his kitchen to start the coffee maker to brewing. As he made his way back to the bedroom to finish getting ready he tripped over her heels. He grumbled as he scooped them up, along with the blazer that was tossed over the back of the sofa, and carried them with him back to the bedroom. In all fairness, he usually only tripped over her shoes or his when they _both_ left them lying around, discarded as they undressed one another, and forgotten in the heat of the moment.

Andy shook his head as he dropped her shoes in his closet and put her blazer with a stack of his that were headed to the cleaners. She had already started to invade almost every part of his home, even before he asked her to move in. From the clothes mixed with his, to the shelf that she had taken over in the shower. There were two of her books on the end table beside the sofa, and the grocery list affixed to the front of the refrigerator with a magnet was written in her hand and not his. Moving her in was going to be a lot more complicated than just combining her things with his. He wasn't kidding himself. There was a lot that they were going to have to do. It was not a process that was going to happen over night.

He thought about that as he shrugged into a clean dress shirt. Telling the people in their lives was only scratching the surface of everything that was going to have to be done to make living together happen. Andy turned when the bathroom door opened. He watched Sharon step out, hair tamed and falling in soft layers around her shoulders, makeup applied as carefully as he had known that it would be. He watched her walk to the bed where she had laid her clothes earlier. When their eyes met, he winked at her. She only laughed and rolled her eyes at him.

They traded places. Andy stepped into the bathroom to take his turn and glanced back as she let the robe fall to the floor. No, it was not a bad way to wake up at all. He smirked. The middle of the night rollouts might not be so bad from now on, he thought. Not so bad at all.

 **MCMCMCMCMCMC**

Despite the late hour the Murder Room was a bustle of activity when they arrived. Lieutenant Tao stood at his desk, a phone to his ear as he spoke into it. He lifted a hand in greeting but did not move his attention away from the call. Julio was likewise at his desk, although seated, and bent over his laptop, fingers moving quickly as he typed. He was inputting the information that Tao called out to him, they were mapping locations of possible sightings.

Lieutenant Provenza stood up as the Captain and his partner arrived. It was no longer a secret that they would be showing up together, even when they took their own vehicles. He still thought that they were idiots, but at least they appeared to be happy idiots. Very happy, from the news that he was getting out of Buzz these days. "Captain, Flynn," he called out. "So glad that you could join us."

She ignored his tone. Sharon knew that he picking at his partner. Honestly, sometimes they were like a pair of teenaged boys. "Lieutenant," she spoke carefully, enunciated very syllable. There was an edge of ice in her tone. "Tell me that Martin Hollings has been found."

Most of the movement in the room stopped. They knew that voice. Tao's words faltered, for just a moment, as he looked over. The support staff that was filling the room, along with the uniformed officers, each stopped what they were doing to turn their attention on the Captain.

Provenza shook his head. He was almost tempted to rock back on his heels. "I'm afraid not, Captain." He waved a hand toward one section of the murder board, which now held the details of their search. "We have a want out for him, and SID is going over the house to determine _how_ someone managed to gain entry…" And exit, although that went without saying. They had to pretend that they were only keeping an eye on him for his own safety, but everyone in that room knew that Hollings was still their number one suspect in the murders of Sue Hollings and Donald Owen. "Sykes is out with Cooper, they were going to talk to Evelyn Owen and do a search of Holmby Hills."

He didn't have to tell her, or anyone else, that Lieutenant Cooper had volunteered to help out since he was already with Amy when the rollout came. That was another pair of idiots as far as Provenza was concerned, but they were benefiting from the SIS officer's expertise each and every time that he helped them out, and since he did a lot of that on his own time, no one minded having him around. Cooper was a good cop to have at their backs. Provenza would let that situation slide too, he decided. He watched the Captain's head tilt and her lips purse; her eyes darkened and he was tempted to dance a little jig. Someone was going to get it and it wasn't going to be him.

Sharon looked around the murder room. Her eyes landed on the two plain-clothes officers that were assigned to keeping an eye on Hollings during the night shift. They narrowed as she studied the two. They weren't exactly rookies. That begged the question of how they had let the man get away from them. Sharon held out a hand and pointed it at her office. "This way," she stated, the order snapping out across the murder room. She watched them straighten and walk toward her office. Sharon looked back at the others. The Lieutenant had everything well organized. "Gentlemen." She nodded at them as she walked across the room. Her heels clicked angrily.

Even her door snapped shut with a hard click. Andy whistled. "Those detectives will be crossing guards in the morning."

Provenza snorted happily. "Those detectives will be begging to be crossing guards in about five minutes."

Andy shoved his hands into his pockets. "I'm just glad that she's using her powers for good. Bringing her around has been hard. We deserve a reward."

The Lieutenant nodded his agreement. "We have gone above and beyond." He picked up a file from his desk and swatted his partner with it. "That was for not telling me."

"God almighty." Andy rolled his eyes. He waved a hand at her office. "I just asked her yesterday. She had to tell Rusty first." As he said the name he looked around the Murder Room. "You didn't call the kid in?"

"Nah," Provenza shook his head. "He's got an eight o'clock class in the morning. Let him sleep." He walked back to his desk. "At least one person we know should be well rested."

"Yeah." Andy snorted. Instead of getting comfortable at his desk he looked across the room and caught Buzz's eye. "Grab your camera and let's go," he waved him toward the exit. "Hollings skipped his detail, or was taken," he added. "That means his house is a possible crime scene. We should head over and help out SID." He also wanted to get one more look at it, make sure there was no evidence there that tied Hollings to either murder. There was also the chance that they might find a clue as to where he had gone.

"Long shot," Provenza said, and knew that his partner agreed. They had to look, though. "We have a call in to the lawyer. So far our good friend Jackson hasn't called us back yet." He wouldn't say it, but it would probably be a good idea if his partner was _not_ around when the lawyer came down to answer their questions.

Andy nodded. Just the mention of him had his shoulders knotting. "Yeah, alright." He didn't like it, but they were going to have to deal with the guy. He was going to have to deal with him too. Not tonight, though. He was at least getting around that.

The sound of a raised voice drew their attention. Both Lieutenants looked over. Through the blinds they could see one of the detectives gesturing wildly and pointing at the Captain. She had her arms folded across her chest. There was an unimpressed look on her face. "Make that night watchmen at Walgreens," Provenza muttered.

"Damn." Andy turned away before he was tempted to stay and watch the show. "It had to be a stupid one. Don't let her have too much fun."

"If she gets too enthused I'll get Tao to film it for you," Provenza promised.

The Lieutenant, who was still on the phone, turned where he stood and gave them a thumbs up. Andy laughed. "You know, five years ago, we would have all thought we were nuts." They never would have dreamed they would one day be getting a kick out of watching Raydor go Darth on some unsuspecting idiot.

"Five years ago I would have had you committed," Provenza muttered. "I'm still considering it." As Flynn and Buzz left he went back to his desk. From there he had a good view of the show. The noise in the office had dropped again. The Captain was speaking now. They couldn't hear what she was saying, but with the way she was pointing at the detectives in front of her, and the look on her face, they could imagine it well enough. All of them, except for maybe Tao, had been on the receiving end of one of her lectures over the years. "If the one on the left ends up wetting himself," Provenza drawled, " _I_ will buy her flowers."

At his desk, Julio snickered. "We can all chip in. Make Flynn's look like something a kid would pick out."

Provenza pointed at him. "You are on." He turned his attention back to the Captain's office. Those idiots really had it coming.

The lecture only went on for another five minutes before the door opened. Once again all activity in the murder room came to a halt as the two detectives left the Captain's office. Their walk down the hall and away from Major Crimes could have almost been called scurrying, they left so quickly. Another minute later and the Captain reappeared. She looked only mildly put out.

It was Sanchez that spoke. He had a disappointed look on his face. "You went easy on them, ma'am."

She flashed a crooked smile at him. "I don't know about that, Julio." Sharon folded her arms across her chest as she moved into the center of the room. "Apparently Martin Hollings took an ambien and went to bed at about eight this evening. When they checked on him half an hour before they reported he was missing, he was still in bed. There was a noise and the neighbor's dogs began barking. They were checking the perimeter. When they came back, Hollings was gone. They were… unfortunately lax in keeping an eye on him but not altogether incompetent."

"That's disappointing." Provenza sulked.

"Hm." Her lips pursed. The Captain's eyes sparkled. "I thought so too. I've sent them down to volunteer their time with traffic division. Let's see if they can find what they lost." Her gaze swept the room quickly. "Where are we?"

"Flynn and Buzz are with SID to look over the house," Provenza reported. "We've had a few sightings, nothing concrete yet, and…" He shrugged. "Still waiting for Hollings lawyer to call us back. Guess he likes his beauty sleep."

Sharon chuckled. Jack was probably snoring so loudly he couldn't hear the phone, but she wouldn't tell them that. "Well, when he does finally decide to roll out of bed, do let me know." She rubbed a hand across her forehead. "I will start a timeline based on the information we got from the detectives that were assigned to Hollings tonight." With any luck they would get somewhere soon and the night would not be a complete waste of their time.

It was nearing sunrise when Lieutenant Flynn finally returned, Buzz in tow. He walked into the murder room carrying three evidence bags. As he passed his partner, he shook them. There was a box of unused gun shells in one, casings in another. In the third there were two distinct parts of a gun. One was the barrel. "Someone was in a hurry to leave. He forgot his toys."

Provenza looked over. His brows rose. He pointed at the bag containing the gun parts. "If that matches either of the bullets that Morales took out of Hollings's wife or Donald Owen…"

"We've got him," Flynn finished. "I'm going to log it in and send it down to SID, along with the casings."

"We also recovered his computer." Buzz carried it over to Tao. "This is not the same computer that was released to Hollings when we had to return his personal belongings, but it isn't new either."

"He might have kept it at his office at the hospital," Tao said. "The Captain has Hobbs working on a warrant to search it too." He took the computer and laid it carefully on his desk.

"He has some interesting encryption on the hard drive," Buzz said. "I wasn't able to get past it."

Tao waited for the laptop to boot up. As the login appeared he grinned. "It is hard to break into without the right tools, but I can do it. This is your standard, professional end point encryption." He looked at the others while he described it. "Probably something installed by the hospital to protect PHI. We could actually be violating a few laws by breaking past it."

"How do you know that it is his work computer?" Provenza leaned forward in his chair. "It was found in his home, wasn't it?"

"In the bedroom," Flynn pointed out. "Why would we think it has anything to do with his work or his patients?"

"Our current warrant covers the house and contents," Julio stated. "Anything found inside that structure is fair game." He shrugged. "If it doesn't say anything about hospital property anywhere on the computer, how are you supposed to know?"

"Good point." Tao turned back to the laptop. "If Hollings is familiar with the encryption used by his employer he might have chosen to use it on his home network." He connected the laptop to his workstation and got to work breaking the encryption. He didn't have to get _into_ the computer so much as he had to get past the login. Once that was accomplished he could create a mirror of the desktop and begin accessing the files from his own computer. It was really very simple.

Andy dropped the evidence bags on his desk and dug out the forms he needed for chain of custody. "So how did it go with Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Dumber?"

Provenza shrugged. "She sent them down to help Traffic division." He was still disappointed about the outcome.

"Really?" Andy straightened. His bottom lip poked out. "She went easy on them."

"That's what I said!" He scowled at his partner. "What have you done to her?"

"What? Me?" Andy's eyes widened. "What makes you think that I had anything to do with this? I wasn't even here!"

"You are the reason—"

"Ah hah!" It had only taken Tao a couple of minutes to get past the very generic program. He glanced back at the Lieutenants. "Oh, I'm sorry. Am I interrupting your bickering?" They both glared at him but Mike only smirked. "I'm in." He turned back to the computer. "I am pulling up the last files that he accessed now. Let's see what our good friend the Doctor has been up to… Oh!"

"What?" It was Julio that voiced the question, even as the group crowded around the Lieutenant's desk.

He was pulling up picture after picture. It became quickly apparent that they were not photographs that he had downloaded during his previous information quest. These had been taken with a camera, and some of them were recent, very recent.

"Son of a bitch." Andy leaned over Tao's shoulder, a hand braced against the back of his chair and the other resting on the surface of the desk. His brows drew together in a deep scowl. Image after image he was seeing himself, and Sharon, in varying locations. The one that disturbed him the most was taken on an evening not too far into the past. They had been walking out of his garage. She was wearing a short, lilac dress. He remembered that night. They hadn't had a date. She was supposed to have plans with Emily, but her daughter had cancelled due to a sore ankle. As a professional dancer Emily had chosen to stay home and baby the joint. Sharon had sought him out instead. He hadn't minded. She had suggested dinner in, but she was already dressed for dinner with Emily. Andy had insisted on showering and taking her out. She had joined him in the shower, and they had ended up with pizza from a local delivery place. He remembered that they had fallen asleep on his sofa that night, watching a movie, Sharon cuddled up to him in one of his shirts and a blanket wrapped around them. It was the first time he thought, seriously, about spending the rest of his life with her. It was the first time that it hadn't seemed like a pipe dream.

There were a dozen images popping up on Mike's computer that he could attribute to specific memories. Dates and outings, afternoons spent walking hand in hand on the beach. There was one of them walking out of a grocery store together. His arm was thrown casually around her shoulders. It surprised him a little. Andy had not realized just how much of their time they spent together. The only picture that Mike found of Sharon alone was with his grandsons at the park, the day that she had watched them for Nicole. That had his teeth grinding together. It was only a single day after he had gotten out of jail for _supposedly_ killing his wife.

"There's a newer folder," Tao's voice interrupted his train of thoughts. He opened the folder and more images began to open. "Man," he muttered. He shook his head. The creep really had a thing for the Captain.

"Where did he get these?" Julio leaned closer. They were looking at much older pictures. In these the Captain could not have been much older than late twenties to early thirties. She was with another man, this time her ex-husband.

"If they were stored on a cloud," Tao said, "he could have hacked in and downloaded them from there." He glanced up at them.

"That has to be it," Provenza suggested. Most of the photos were posed, taken at family or social events. There were not many, he didn't expect there to be. Jack had not been around for long after the kids were born. What photographs remained were sparse, just a few functions he had attended with his wife during their separation. "Probably hacked into his lawyer's files," He muttered.

"I will check the Captain's cloud to make sure," Tao suggested. "If it was accessed, there may be a record."

"She kept a few pictures for the kids. She has them backed up digitally," Andy told them. "Why did he only pull these? There has to be hundreds of pictures in her files that don't have Jack in them. If it's her that this creep is in to…"

"Whoa!" Tao's eyes widened. He pushed back from his desk. He had just uncovered a very incriminating and _personal_ selfie.

Julio blinked. "I don't think that it was her he wanted."

On Tao's screen, blown up for all of them, was an image of Martin Hollings and Donald Owen locked in a very passionate kiss.

"He got rid of his wife," Andy began slowly, "and then he got rid of his lover…"

"…because his interests changed," Buzz finished for him.

"I guess he likes a silver fox," Tao muttered, "as my wife would say."

As one they all straightened and looked at each other. Andy started backing away. "Fill her in," he told Provenza. "Julio, you're with me."

"Yes sir!" Julio walked to his desk and jerked his jacket off the back of his chair. He shrugged into it as he followed the Lieutenant.

"Call Sykes," Flynn called. "Tell her and Cooper to haul ass toward Silver Lake and meet me at the address that I'm sending her!"

Buzz frowned. "Where are they going?"

Tao turned in his chair. He jerked his head toward the photo he just opened. "When you contact a suspect's lawyer, several times, in the course of an evening and leave messages and he does not call you back… he is either deeply asleep, or…"

Buzz's gaze moved to the computer screen again. The picture was taken at an outdoor café. Jack Raydor was having lunch with his daughter, and Emily was only barely in the image. It was obvious where the photographer's attention had been. "Oh." He frowned. "Who is going to tell the Captain?"

Tao's gaze moved slowly to Provenza. The older man sighed. "There are days," he told them, "when I do seriously wonder if retirement would be so bad. This is one of them."

They watched him walk toward the Captain's office. The sun was only barely climbing toward the horizon, but they felt like they were running out of time.

 **-TBC-**


	17. Chapter 17

**Leaping In**

 **by Kadi**

 **Rated T**

 **Disclaimer:** This is not my sandbox, this is just my favorite place to play. I promise to put all of the toys back when I'm done.

* * *

 **Chapter 17**

They waited for Cooper and Amy to arrive before trying to gain access to Raydor's apartment. There were two patrol units also providing backup as they converged on the old, Spanish Mission style complex in Silver Lake. Andy did a quick circle of the parking lot and the large parking garage across the street. He found Jack's car, but no sign of Hollings anywhere on the premises.

The apartment was completely dark. There were no signs of lights or movement inside the unit. Once Sykes and Cooper had arrived, they surrounded the door. Andy knocked. When there was no answer, he knocked again, a little louder this time.

"Hey Jack, it's Flynn. Open up, we need to talk." He waited, but still there was no sign of movement or sounds forthcoming from the apartment. Julio stood on the other side of the door, his gun drawn, waiting. Amy was behind him. Andy glanced at Cooper on his other side. The officer shrugged.

They could kick in the door, but they were in a precarious position. Their probable cause was sketchy. They had concerns to operate from, but no real evidence that Hollings was or had been there. Finding Raydor's car didn't mean a whole lot. He could still be out.

Andy only had a few seconds to debate it. Did he kick in the door to his girlfriend's ex-husband's place on just a hunch and a lot of suspicion? As much as he disliked the jerk, could he risk something happening to him if they were right? Could they really afford to play it safe? He sighed. "Amy?"

She glanced at her phone. "No call back from the building manager." They had left a message that they might need to gain access to an apartment.

He nodded. Andy took a single step back. "Julio…" He nodded to the other detective to get ready. He was aware of Cooper also moving into position on his other side. "If I'm wrong, I'll buy him another damned door," he muttered.

On a silent count of three the door was kicked in. Julio and Cooper spilled into the apartment with shouts of " _LAPD!"_

Andy followed, Sykes beside him, and the patrol officers behind them. They moved swiftly through the apartment, clearing each room.

They found Jack in the bedroom, bound to a chair with tape covering his mouth. The window was gaping open with the curtains pushed aside. He jerked his head toward it and grunted loudly. Cooper and Julio went in pursuit, along with the patrol officers. Andy moved around and tugged on the duct tape that was covering Raydor's mouth.

His blue eyes flashed in annoyance. "Why the held id it have to be you?"

Andy rolled his eyes heavenward. "You're absolutely right," he drawled, sarcasm heavy in his tone. "Next time I'll let the psycho make you his love slave." He slapped the duct tape back into place, none too gently and turned away. "You can deal with him," he grumbled at Amy, "I'm going to call it in."

Amy looked down at the man in front of her. She fought the urge to groan. Naturally _she_ would get stuck with the ex-husband. Amy stepped forward and pulled the tape off again. She wasn't entirely gentle about it, but she did shrug a little sheepishly. "Sorry." She walked around behind him to start loosening the ropes. Afterward she looked around the room. She took her cellphone out and snapped a picture before picking up a pair of pants that were discarded across the foot of the bed and tossing them at him. No one, Amy decided, needed to deal with Jack Raydor while he was standing around in his boxers. "Put those on, then I'll take your statement."

"She sent _him_?" Jack was still stuck on that one fact. He moved slowly. His body was stiff and sore from having been tied up for so long. He rolled his shoulders before snatching up the pants and standing. He jerked them on quickly, but couldn't seem to get his mind away from _who_ had shown up to save him. "There's what, four other people in your division and she sent _him_?"

The detective rolled her eyes. "The Lieutenant was one of the officers assigned to do the welfare check, yes. After your client ducked out on his protection detail, we found evidence that indicated that he might be here. We work as a team."

"Uh huh." Jack finished fastening his pants and strode out of the bedroom. "A team that includes the guy who has been putting his hands all over my wife…"

Amy sighed as she turned to follow him. "Ex-wife," she muttered to herself. She was beginning to think that she really should have left Julio behind and gone off in search of Hollings instead.

By the time that Sharon arrived with Lieutenants Provenza and Tao there were several squad cars parked in front of her ex-husband's apartment complex. She left the car and strode purposefully toward the building. There was a crowd of officers standing out front. Two patrolmen had been put on the door, pending the arrival of SID. Sharon stopped near the group and turned. "Buzz, go ahead," she waved him toward the apartment. "Lieutenant Tao, would you join him?"

Provenza chose to stand back a little bit. This was going to be interesting. During those initial minutes she had been concerned. Now the mask was firmly in place and he couldn't decide if she was still worried or just irritated. It could, he decided, be some comical combination of the two. His head tilted as Flynn approached them. There was a pinched look on his face. His jaw was tight and if Provenza didn't miss his guess, his partner was grinding his teeth so hard that he was going to have a hell of a headache later. He couldn't stop himself. He rocked back on his heels and grinned crookedly. "So… missed the excitement did we?"

If ever he was tempted to throttle the old man, now was it. Andy glared darkly at him for just a moment before turning his attention to Sharon. "Cooper and Sanchez caught up with Hollings a couple of blocks over. They've got him contained over there," he jerked his head to where the man was being held in the back of a squad car. There were two officers on it. He took a half step back and waved at the apartment. "The victim," they could see strain in him as he spoke, "was found tied up in his bedroom. We got here before Hollings could do, whatever it was, that he planned to do. Sykes took his statement. He's…" Andy waved a hand in the general direction, "over there somewhere."

"I see." Sharon folded her arms across her chest. Her lips were pressed tightly together. There was tension knotting his shoulders. He had rushed out, acted on instinct, did the job that was so deeply a part of who he was. Now he was trying very hard to keep his temper in check, a difficult feat when he was being asked to deal with her ex-husband. "Can I assume that aside from being understandably embarrassed that the…" Her own jaw tightened. The muscles in her neck ached as she held back her laughter. "Victim," she managed after a moment, "is otherwise unharmed?"

His eyes narrowed for just a moment. When Provenza coughed and looked away Andy felt the tension that was knotting his back and shoulders increase. "If you laugh right now, I swear to god, Sharon…"

She blinked at him. She affixed a suitably innocent expression on her face. "Lieutenant are you suggesting that I would find this situation at all humorous? A man's life was in danger." That the man in question was her ex-husband was worrisome, and a certain level of fear had gripped her upon hearing that news. He was the father of her children. Whatever had happened between them they would always be connected. There was a part of her that was always going to have some level of feeling for him. She had given that man her heart, and although he had given it back to her, she would never be able to forget or deny the memories that they had created together. At the same time, Sharon could not deny a certain level of amusement in the fact that the man who had saved him was the one that she was currently building a life with. She could not imagine that those two men would ever be able to get along amicably; she could only hope that they would strive to be civil when the children were present. No, given all that could have happened, it was not an overall humorous situation, but Sharon could see the amusement in it. She swallowed it back and shook her head at him. "Is he okay?"

Andy sighed. "He has done nothing but complain since we got here," he grumbled. "I think he's fine. He was tied up, but Hollings hadn't done anything yet." He shrugged. "I think Hollings was trying to figure out how to make this situation work for him. He acted on impulse," Andy said of their suspect. "The rest of it was all planned out, every move perfectly executed. He took a chance and when he got here, he didn't have his next step already mapped out. Hollings hasn't said a word since Cooper and Julio caught him. He's not talking at all." He sighed again and swept a hand over his face. "Jack on the other hand… He's with Sykes. I can't deal with him. Next time, someone else can save his skin."

Sharon hummed thoughtfully. She placed a hand on his arm. She kept the touch brief. "Thank you, Lieutenant. I would like for you and the others to see to it that Mister Hollings is taken downtown. I will speak to Jack, and after we have everything that we need from the scene, we will meet you there."

"Sounds good." Andy felt some of the tension in his shoulders recede. "I'll call Hobbs on the way, let her know what's going on. She can come down and maybe we will wrap all this up today."

"Now that," Provenza stated, reminding them that he was there, "is something to look forward to."

The Captain offered a smile as she walked away from them. She left Provenza to get all of the details out of Andy that he was in no mood to give her at the moment. His partner would manage it, where Andy would bite back his annoyance because it was her. Sharon walked in the direction that he had indicated earlier. Her gaze found Jack's familiar gray head easily and her pace increased, at least a small bit, as she strode toward where he was standing with Detectives Sanchez and Sykes.

"Captain." Amy spotted her first. She felt a wave of relief sweep over her. Finally, she was rescued. She could really understand the Lieutenant's frustration now. The Captain's ex-husband was annoying on a good day, but at the moment he was pushing the boundaries of even _her_ patience. Amy liked to believe that she was a pretty easygoing person, but any minute now she was going to find some more duct tape and cover his mouth again.

"Detectives." Sharon tilted her head at them. Amy looked just a little frayed around the edges, bordering on aggrieved. Julio was looking amused. Sharon suppressed a sigh. "I will take it from here," she told them. "Amy, I would like for you to join Lieutenant Flynn in taking Mister Hollings downtown. Please help him bring DDA Hobbs up to speed."

"Yes ma'am." The Detective turned and walked away quickly.

Sharon shook her head as Amy made good her escape. Julio lingered for just a moment. She arched a brow at him. "Lieutenant Tao and Buzz are looking over the apartment. Perhaps you should join them, Detective?"

There was an amused sparkle in Julio's eyes. "Yes ma'am." He shoved his hands into his pockets and strolled away to join the others.

She waited until they were alone before she turned. Her eyes swept over Jack quickly. He was standing in a t-shirt and a pair of slacks. He was aggravated, but he looked unharmed. There was a frown drawing his brows together. His normally sparkling blue eyes were dark with irritation. Whatever relief she felt before at hearing that the situation was under control was reinforced by seeing him for herself. "Are you okay?"

If he believed that she would be flustered, or at all visibly worried, he could shove those thoughts aside. That annoyed him even more. She was nothing but polite, just as he would expect her to be with any other recently rescued individual. Didn't thirty years of history and two kids warrant a little bit more than that? "Yeah." Jack scowled at her. "Fine," he said gruffly, "your good pal Flynn saw to that." He ground his teeth together. "Really, Sharon? That's what you came up with? You sent _him_?"

Sharon folded her lips together. Her head tilted. She hummed thoughtfully. She could tell him that Andy acted on his own, but decided it would not be nearly as amusing as beating him at his own game. "Yes, Jack. I sent the officer that I trust the most to save the father of my children. How could I be so negligent? Don't worry. I'll think better of it next time."

"Oh that's just great." Jack huffed at her. "Well, at least you remember that we—"

"Do not," she warned. Sharon knew where he was going with that line of thought. He had done it before. He liked to trot out the fact that they had children together whenever he could, as if she could forget that fact. "Jack, I understand that you are upset, and rightly so, but whatever personal connections or disagreements that we share do not have any place in the current situation. I would suggest that you keep that in mind as we move forward. I understand that Detective Sykes has already taken your statement, but we may have more questions for you. It will be a little while before we are going to be able to release your apartment, so I suggest that you make your way downtown."

"Are you kidding?" Jack snorted at her. "You just sent your boyfriend there. No way—"

"Jack." She took a step forward. Her voice pitched low. "I haven't told Ricky or Emily about this yet. When I do, I am going to send them to the PAB. I do not want them here. It probably wouldn't hurt, either, if you went to a meeting." She gave him a pointed look. "Don't you agree?"

He shook his head at her. "Whatever you say, Sharon." Jack shoved his hands into his pockets. "You're in control, but then you always are."

"Yes." She smiled brightly. "I am." He meant it as an insult but she was well beyond allowing him to get under her skin. "Do you have any thing else that you would like to say?"

His eyes narrowed for a moment. He sighed. "Yeah, before you question Hollings, make sure he finds another lawyer. I'm done."

"Hm." Her lips pressed into a thin line again. "Yes, understandable." Sharon rolled her eyes at him. "Anything else?"

"No." He sniffed at her amusement. His shoulders slumped and he sulked at her. "Come on, Sharon…" He reached for her. "Can't you just—"

"I have to go to work now." She sidestepped him easily. "I will speak with you later, Jack. I would like to make sure that the situation with Hollings is wrapped up before I call the children, I would appreciate it if you keep that in mind." She didn't want to worry them unnecessarily. They would be upset enough once they learned of this incident.

Jack huffed as he watched her leave. Of course he didn't want to tell them until the creep was behind bars. What did she take him for? He scowled at her retreating back. As usual, she acted like she was the only one who knew what was best for _their_ children. Wasn't it bad enough that she let her pet Lieutenant ride in to save the day? No, he had no plans of discussing it with the kids until it was all settled. Then he never wanted to speak of it again. Ever.

 **MCMCMCMCMCMC**

By the time that the rest of Major Crimes had wrapped their scene and returned to the Murder Room there was a storm brewing on the ninth floor. Andy was pacing angrily and Sharon was ready to send him home. She was no happier with what DDA Hobbs was currently telling them than he was, but he had obviously reached the tenuous limit of his patience. She cast one, final warning look at him before waving at the DDA to continue.

"My hands are tied," Hobbs continued to explain. She held them up for emphasis. "Even if the ballistics come back, we have a gun barrel and not a gun. It is not a murder weapon. It is _part_ of a murder weapon. Unless you can get Martin Hollings to confess to the murders of his wife and lover there is nothing that I can do. At most we have him on attempted, aggravated kidnapping and wrongful detainment."

"What about the stalking?" Andy picked up the pile of photographs that Tao had printed from Hollings's computer. "He has obviously been following us around since he got out of jail." He flipped quickly through the stack until he found what he was looking for. He slapped a pair of photos on the desk in front of Hobbs and pointed at them. "Those are my grandkids," he snapped, pointing at the picture of Sharon with the boys that Hollings had taken at the park. "And this one," his finger stabbed angrily at a picture of himself and Sharon taken on his porch, "could only have been taken in my backyard. He had to be lurking behind the garage." It was a personal moment, not overly intimate, but they had definitely believed that they were alone. They were seated on the steps, Sharon between his legs with her back resting against his chest. His hands had been on her shoulders. He couldn't remember what they were talking about. They spent a lot of time out there, another reason why he wanted to get the old porch swing fixed and refinished. They weren't doing more than sitting there, she was laughing as he smiled down at her, but it was still discomforting as hell.

"Lieutenant," Hobbs sighed quietly. She understood his frustration. "You know as well as I do how difficult it is to prove stalking cases in the state of California. Get Hollings to confess or the best that I can do is ten years. Look," she waved her hand at the pictures. "I understand, believe me. I wish that there was more that I could do, but I cannot bend the law to your will because some creep decided that he likes the way that you look. The very most that I can do with these is trespassing."

Andy threw up his hands and stalked across the room again. Lawyers, they were all more or less the same. He had expected better out of Hobbs, though. He slumped against the side of his desk and folded his arms across his chest. There was a dark scowl on his face. "Kidnapping and wrongful detainment? Really?"

"Unless we can get a confession or he agrees to a deal," Hobbs told him.

"Then we will just have to get the deal." Sharon held up a hand before Andy could protest again. She understood his anger but he was beginning to push it. "What are you prepared to offer him?"

Andrea looked around the room and drew a breath. "Murder Two, and I will drop the kidnapping charges. He will sit in jail for the rest of his life. If he doesn't take it, then he's gone for kidnapping. The _minimum_ is ten years, but if I play it right, I could get more than that. At his age, the likelihood is that he will still spend the rest of his life in jail."

Sharon weighed their options for just a moment. She didn't like it either. Her gaze swept the room; she wasn't the only one displeased. They had two counts of murder, well planned and executed. Hollings deserved far worse than what they were offering him. The truth was, most of their suspects deserved much more than they ended up with. It was the price they paid for locking them away, quite often, for good. Sharon let her gaze fall to the photos on the desk. She nodded once. "Do it. Lieutenant Provenza and Detective Sanchez will go with you. Tread easily, but firmly," she told the two men. "I want him off the street." With the stalking and kidnapping of her ex-husband she and Andy were well and truly finished with the investigation, at least in an official capacity.

Hobbs nodded as she turned. She waved an arm in the direction of the interview room. "Gentlemen."

As they left and the others headed to Electronics to watch the interview, Sharon pointed Andy at her office. "Now," she stated and strode toward the room.

His jaw clenched as he stood from his desk. He walked over and held the door open with one hand. As she passed him he followed her inside. Andy let the door close behind him. "Sharon, that son of a bitch…"

"I know." The moment that they were alone she whirled to face him. "Do you think that any of us are blind to what Hollings has done? We are all very aware that he is dangerous, and that he has crossed a line. We all get it." She pointed a finger at him. "You need to calm down. Get that temper under control and act like the professional that you are supposed to be." Sharon watched his eyes darken and his jaw clench. Her brows lifted in response. "Yes, Lieutenant?"

He threw his hands up and turned away from her. "He was lurking around the house, Sharon. He's got pictures of the kids. Don't tell me to calm down like that doesn't matter. Kidnapping? Really?"

Sharon walked over and sat against the edge of her desk. She folded her arms across her chest and watched him pace back and forth across her office. The admonishment had apparently gone in one ear and right out of the other. There was nothing to be done but to let him work it out. At least he was doing it here and no longer making an ass out of himself in front of the rest of the team. "I am not happy with the idea either, Andy. I would like to see Martin Hollings put away for much more, but if that is the best that Hobbs can do, then I would rather do it then allow him to continue living free." Her head tilted as he moved across the width of her office again. Her lips pursed. He had only grunted in response. "Which bothers you more, that he was stalking us or that it was you that he liked?"

He stopped walking to glare at her. "That isn't funny." Andy moved over and leaned against the back of one of the chairs in front of her desk. "I don't give a damn _why_ he was doing it. What bothers me is that we spend enough of our damned time under a microscope for the world. We don't need some dirt bag following us around with a camera when we're supposed to be alone." His dark eyes bore in to her. "We work damned hard to keep all of that away from here and now some psycho with a crush has brought all of it right into the middle of our jobs." He scoffed, "Okay, yeah, maybe I am enough of a damned chauvinist to admit that I do feel a little bit better that it wasn't _you_ that he was after, but I'm not going to apologize for that."

She didn't say anything right away. Instead Sharon slipped off the desk and walked over to stand beside him. "I know," she said softly. She laid a hand on his arm and let it slide down to curl around his wrist. "I agree, it is incredibly discomforting to have our personal life tossed into the open like this, but there is nothing that we can do about it now. We have to trust that Hobbs is going to do her job. Either way, Martin Hollings is going to jail. It may not be what we want, but he _is_ going to jail. That is what I have to hold on to when I explain to my children that although he is completely unharmed, that maniac kidnapped their father." She gave his wrist a gentle squeeze. "To which I am sure they will be immensely thankful to you for saving his life."

Andy snorted. He looked away from her. "Can we please never talk about that again? I'm questioning why I bothered. The ungrateful son of a—" When her grip on his wrist tightened Andy sighed. "Yeah, okay. Fine. Whatever. I was just doing my job."

"Hm." She wasn't completely convinced of that. Sharon smiled gently at him. "Yes you were," she stated. "Thank you for that." He had rushed into that situation without even a second's worth of hesitation. She wondered if he realized how rare that was? Sharon knew that he would never believe her and he was obviously uncomfortable with the idea. She filed it away for later. "Now if you think that you can keep a lid on that temper," she stated, "I would like to go and watch Hobbs maneuver our suspect into agreeing to go away for a very long time, and I would like for you to join me." Her brows lifted. "Unless of course you'd like to go to Interview Two and keep our victim company?"

"You're not cute." Andy pushed away from the chair. There was no way in hell that he was going to go and sit with Jack while they wrapped this thing up. "There's something wrong with you if you think that's funny."

"Well, then I suppose there is something very wrong with me." Sharon turned away from him, "Because I found it to be incredibly amusing." She tossed a smirk back at him.

"You would." Andy followed her from the office. "Go ahead, Sharon. Keep it up. If I lose it with that jerk, there's not a lot of places you can send me now. You're moving in, remember?"

"True." She smiled sweetly at him. "But I do seem to remember a charming little space over the garage. Now that I think about it, that would make a lovely spot for you to cool your heels the next time that temper gets out of control."

Andy rolled his eyes as they walked across the Murder Room. "I walked right into that one."

"Mmhm…" She waited for him to catch up to her and them bumped his shoulder with hers. "But then, you usually do. One of these days, you might just learn."

"Nah." His hand brushed hers without taking it. "Keeps you on your toes. It's a hard job, but someone has to do it. At least it comes with hazard pay."

The way that his eyes glittered at her made Sharon blush. There was not much doubt as to _what_ he was considering to be _hazard pay_. "We are going to discuss that later, Lieutenant. Right after we talk about how great your recliner will look in that loft."

"Yeah, sure," he replied with a grin. Andy pushed the door to Electronics open and held it for her. "You betcha." He expected that to be a very interesting conversation. It was one that he was suddenly looking forward to.

 **-TBC-**


	18. Chapter 18

**Leaping In**

 **by Kadi**

 **Rated T**

 **Disclaimer:** This is not my sandbox, this is just my favorite place to play. I promise to put all of the toys back when I'm done.

* * *

 **Chapter 18**

"Wait a minute, I don't think I understand all of this." Rusty leaned forward where he sat at the dining room table in his mother's condo and tried to wrap his head around everything that they had told him over dinner. He heard part of it earlier in the day when he spoke to Ricky, but was only now getting the rest of the details from his mother and her boyfriend. "So, your suspect," he repeated carefully, "killed his wife so that he could be with his boyfriend? But then he killed his boyfriend because he found someone… better?" He looked between Sharon and Flynn and could feel the corners of his mouth twitching. "That was you first," he said, pointing at Andy, "and then Jack?"

"Yep." Andy lifted his water and took a drink. "It turns out I wasn't really his type." It wasn't a laughing matter but they were taking as much away from this one as they could. He still wasn't happy about the outcome. Martin Hollings was in county lockup pending formal sentencing. He would be going away for kidnapping. He wouldn't confess to the murders, although they knew that he had done it. He called them _unfortunate accidents_. That was all that they could get out of him in the end. Hobbs assured them that she was going to seek the maximum, but Flynn wasn't holding his breath. All that they could say at this point was that at least the guy was going to jail.

"Gender doesn't really matter in situations like these," Sharon explained. "It was about power, and his own obsessive need to have the world arranged to his liking." She lifted her water glass and leaned back in her chair. They had ordered out. She was much too tired to consider cooking after having been up for most of the night and all day, and there was no way that she was letting Andy into her kitchen. "As it turns out, Donald Owen was never going to leave his wife. Martin Hollings had already started to turn his attention elsewhere. When he realized that Donald did not immediately return his affections, he killed him." Sharon sighed. "Allegedly."

Beside her Andy snorted. He stabbed a piece of broccoli with his fork; probably with a little more enthusiasm than was needed. "He definitely killed him, and the wife. His plan was always to get rid of his wife. He didn't want to split the estate in a messy divorce. Originally he was going to get rid of Donald Owen's wife. The joke was on him, however."

At Rusty's confused look, Sharon shrugged. "Mrs. Owen was fully aware that her husband had interests that… shall we say, lay outside of their marriage."

"She knew he was gay," Andy supplied with a shrug.

"Yes." Sharon shot a look at him. "Thank you. I thought I was telling this story? You didn't want to think about it anymore, as I recall."

He stuck the broccoli in his mouth and shrugged. Andy pointed his fork at her while he chewed. After he had swallowed he grinned. "You looked like you needed help. No need to sugar coat it, we're all adults here."

"Hm." She turned her attention back to Rusty. "Evelyn Owen was truly devastated by her husband's death, but not for the reasons that we believed. She did love him, but he was her best friend. They married because they didn't want to spend the rest of their lives alone. Her husband had died some years before, as had Donald's lover. It was why they worked the clause about cheating into their prenuptial agreement. Neither of them was ever going to be caught cheating because they were both perfectly aware that the other might take a lover."

"Wow." Rusty sat back in his chair. "Their kids didn't know this? How could they not know? I mean, when your parents are doing stuff, even really gross stuff, you know about it."

Sharon chose to ignore his phrasing, and his tone. She tilted her head and smiled at him. "Well, Donald did not have any children, and Evelyn's children live out of state. They were not close to their stepfather and they did not really participate in their lives beyond seeing them during the holidays. They did not really agree with the idea of their mother remarrying. Mrs. Owen said that her husband did not want them to know that he was gay. So they kept that between them and they lived their lives the best that they could."

"Until your suspect killed him because he was never going to leave his wife." Rusty shook his head slowly. "That is so sad."

"Yes." Sharon sighed. "Even worse is the fact that, unfortunately, Martin Hollings is a very intelligent man. We have no evidence that he actually committed either murder. Nothing that cannot be ruled circumstantial; for that reason, he is only going to jail for breaking into his lawyer's apartment and holding him unlawfully. That is only a ten year minimum sentence, but DDA Hobbs is confident she can get the maximum, or near to it."

"Yeah right." Andy sniffed. "The victim is a lawyer. Judges like lawyers even less than cops do. My money is on two years, max, out in fifteen months for good behavior."

Sharon rolled her eyes at him when Rusty's jaw dropped. "Do not listen to him. Ten years, minimum. Jack's profession will not even factor into the decision." She reached over and tapped Andy's arm. "Behave," she told him.

"What?" Andy exclaimed. "I'm serious! With our luck, she'll get Grove. He likes lawyers even less than most, and especially _that_ one. We are so screwed." He slumped back in his seat. "Thirteen months tops if she pulls Grove."

He sounded utterly dejected. Rusty snorted quietly and stood up to carry his plate into the kitchen. "I don't know. That guy _really_ likes going by the book. I think that I am going to go with Sharon on this one."

"Thank you, Rusty." Sharon made a face at Andy. "Just for that, you can do the dishes," she told him. She did not want to give Rusty a worse opinion of the law than he already had, but she couldn't necessarily blame Andy for the dejected way in which he was viewing the outcome of their case. If nothing else they could at least say that it was over.

After Hobbs had finished dealing with Hollings and he was hauled away, her division had spent the rest of the day wrapping up their case notes and filing their reports. They were done just in time for the weekend, and pending any other cases, they had earned a rest.

"Yeah, sure." Andy stood up with his plate and reached for hers. "Just don't expect me to wash them before I put them in the dish _washer_." He smirked as he walked into the kitchen. He winked at Rusty, and then grinned when her balled up napkin hit the back of his shoulder.

"Okay," Rusty said slowly. "On that note, I think that I am going to go to my room. Thanks for dinner." He walked over and picked up the books that he had spread out on the coffee table when they came home. "Oh, and Sharon, don't forget, I'm going to be gone most of tomorrow, and I will be late coming home."

Her smile faltered. She had forgotten, actually. "Right." She forced a bright smile. "Got it. If I don't see you before you leave, have a good time, and be careful." She pointed a finger at him. "What did I say that I wanted you to do?"

Rusty rolled his eyes at her but he grinned. "I will wear the vest from the moment that we leave the PAB until we return. I will not leave the car, unless I am told to, and I will do everything that Buzz and Amy tell me to do. It will be okay, Sharon." He started toward the hall. "I will see you tomorrow night."

"Mmhm." She wasn't convinced. "Good night," she called after him. "Love you!" Sharon waited until he disappeared down the hall before she let her head dropped to rest against the table in front of her. "Oh god."

Andy walked back into the room to finish clearing the table. "What was all of that about?" He regarded her closely as he gathered the remaining dishes from the table.

Sharon sighed before lifting her head. "Rusty is doing a ride-along with Buzz and Amy tomorrow night. It is for a writing project he is doing for his journalism class on the public perception of law enforcement." She pouted up at him. "He did not even ask me first."

"Oh." Andy lifted their glasses and carried them into the kitchen. "Well, he's getting older. It might not be so bad. Amy is pretty solid, and Buzz likes to play by the book. They're not going to go on any risky calls while they've got a civilian with them, and especially Rusty. I think it will be okay." It wouldn't stop her worrying, he knew, but he was sure that she needed to hear the reminder.

"I suppose." She picked up what remained on the table and carried it to the kitchen for him. "On the other hand, I might feel better if someone else was to switch with Amy for the night. You, for example." She fluttered her lashes and smiled sweetly at him. "I trust Amy, but I trust you a lot more."

"Yeah?" He leaned toward her. There was a grin curving his lips. "I'm glad to hear it, but no." He pressed a quick kiss to her lips before she could frown at him. "The kid didn't ask me. He asked them. If the kid wanted me involved, he would have done that. I'd do a lot for you, Sharon, but I'm not getting into this one. Rusty wants to do this one on his own. That's why he went to them, and it's why he told you after the fact. He picked people that he trusts, that he knows you trust, and you've gotta respect that."

Sharon moaned quietly. "I know." That did not make it easy to accept. She hadn't imagined that Andy would actually do it, but it had been worth a try. She knew that Rusty wouldn't be happy if she interfered. "I am still not going to feel better until it is over with." She leaned against the counter beside him. "On the other hand, I wonder if Julio—"

"No." Andy pointed a finger at her. "Let it go, Sharon. I promise to spend all day distracting you, but you are going to stay out of this."

He didn't often take that bossy tone with her. It never failed to surprise her when he did. Sharon's brows arched. "Distracting me how?" This she had to hear. Her lips pursed while her eyes sparkled at him.

Andy rolled his eyes at her. "We'll go shopping. Or something. Hell, we'll do whatever you want. Just let the kid have this one." He picked up a plate and placed it in the dishwasher. "He's earned it, and for that matter, so have Amy and Buzz. When it's time for you to step in, no one will mind. It's not time for that yet."

She huffed at him. "Very well." Sharon pointed a finger at him. "But I am going to remind you tomorrow that you said we would do whatever I want." Before he could fully scowl at her Sharon pointed at the plate that he just placed in the dishwasher. "Aren't you going to rinse that first?"

"Nope." He smirked. Andy picked up another plate and placed it in the rack beside the first. "This one either, and you know what, you're going to deal with it. You are not in control of every situation, Sharon. Look at this, not rinsing this fork either."

"Okay, you know what," Sharon couldn't stand it. She tried to push him aside. "Just let me do the dishes." He was much taller and wider than she was, however, and not budging. "Andy."

"I am perfectly good right here." He dropped another fork into the dishwasher. He grinned when she tried to move him again. "You asked me to do the dishes. I am doing the dishes, sweetheart."

"Yes, but you're doing it all wrong." She made a face at him. " _Andy_." Sharon tried to reach past him again, this time with the intention of _un_ loading the dishwasher. She would rather wash them by hand than stand here and watch this travesty.

"You need a lesson in patience." It tickled him to no end to tell _her_ that. Andy turned and wrapped his arms around her. He dropped a kiss on to her lips before lifting her. He sat her on the counter. "Stay put. I'll be done in a minute and then we can play."

Sharon wrapped her legs around him and drew him back to her. "Yes, but the problem is that I would much rather you load the washer _my_ way, and if you cannot do that, just let me do it." Her arms slipped around his shoulders. "Andy, it really is not difficult."

"Nope. It sure isn't." He smirked up at her. "My way is a lot easier." His hands settled against her hips. He drew her toward the edge of the counter. "How about this," He suggested, voice dropping to a low rumble, "when I do the dishes, I'll do them my way. You can do them your way when it's your turn. Otherwise…" He kissed her again. "Back off, lady."

"Hm." Her lips curved. "That might work." Sharon's eyes glittered. "Although, it really would be better if you just did them—" He shut her up with another kiss and she grinned against his mouth. "Well, who am I to argue when Andy Flynn is attempting to compromise."

"Always the tone of surprise." He drew back from her. Andy lifted her down and turned her away from the kitchen. "Go get comfortable," he said. "I'll be there in a minute." Neither of them had changed when they came home. They were both dragging. It had been an exceptionally long day, especially for Sharon who had needed to call her children and then meet with them, along with their father. They were both exhausted. He wanted nothing more than to fall into bed beside her and sleep for about twelve hours.

He didn't have to tell her twice. Sharon smiled gratefully before making her way across the living room. She stopped only to scoop up her heels and both of their jackets before making her way to the bedroom. Once she was inside she peeled slowly out of her clothes. Sharon wrapped herself in a robe while she started the shower. By the time that it had heated she knew that Andy would be joining her. While she waited she went through the process of removing her makeup.

Sharon had only just dropped her robe and was stepping into the shower when Andy stepped into the bathroom behind her. She left the shower door open, a clear invitation for him to join her. When he had, they spent the next few minutes as much holding each other _up_ as simply holding each other.

It was one of those nights when they went straight to bed, content simply to be together. Sharon was already half asleep by the time Andy joined her in the bed. He sighed when she tucked her feet beneath his legs. It was something that she always did, and dammit, but her feet were always cold. He gathered her closer and although they would shift apart during the night, he fell asleep with an arm draped around her waist.

Waking up to something other than the sound of a ringing phone or an obnoxious alarm was a rarity, but it did happen. Andy wasn't even all that surprised to find the bed beside him empty. Sharon was the early riser of the two of them. While Sharon liked mornings, he was perfectly content to bury his head in the pillow for another few minutes. They were past the point in their relationship where, just because they were together they felt as if they had to _be_ together.

Andy lay in bed until the need to get up was too great. There was a point in age where too much rest left the body aching and sore. He still wasn't in any great hurry; he took his time going through his morning routine and managed to find a pair of jeans that he had left behind at some point. They had been washed and placed in the closet. He pulled them on along with a clean t-shirt and finally went in search of Sharon.

He found her on the balcony.

She was wrapped in a sweater, and like him, she was dressed casually in a pair of jeans and a comfortable top. She looked up and smiled at the sound of the door. There was a cup of coffee cradled in her hands, and when he joined her at the lounger, she leaned forward so that he could slide in behind her. He had made a detour through the kitchen and balanced a cup of coffee in his hand as he curled an arm around her. He turned his face into her hair and pressed a kiss against the side of her neck. "Morning."

She had been up for over an hour, and from the look of him, he had been awake for at least the last twenty minutes, but still his voice had a deep, sleepy rumble to it. Sharon hummed quietly and settled more comfortably against him. He was warm in the cool morning air, much warmer than her sweater had been. "Good morning."

The balcony was her favorite place to watch the morning. He wondered that she would miss it, although she seemed to like the view of the hills that they had from his back porch. It wasn't a great view, but he found her sitting there on more mornings than he could count. She liked to watch the day brighten as the sun moved higher in the sky. She hadn't mentioned it; Andy knew that if she wanted her view badly enough they would be looking for a condo big enough for three in one of the buildings in her neighborhood. Rather than worry about it, he let his hand move across her stomach.

"Did we know," he asked quietly, "that there was a sleeping man on your couch?" He managed to stumble across that as he came into the living room. There had been a dark head poking out of a blanket and the sound of soft snoring. It could only belong to her son, but how he managed to get there, Andy couldn't say. He didn't remember anyone coming by last night, but then, he hardly remembered closing his eyes after going to bed.

Sharon chuckled softly. "We do now." She was sitting against his chest, between his legs. She rested a hand against his knee and stroked the top of his jean-clad thigh. "Rusty let him in last night. Something about listening to the sound of his sister make out with her boyfriend being cruel and unusual punishment." She snorted on a quiet laugh. "Rusty only gave me the brief rundown on his way out this morning. He was off to meet TJ for breakfast."

"They're spending a lot of time together," he remarked. It seemed every moment that wasn't spent at school or interning at the PAB, Rusty spent it with TJ. "Doesn't he live with his folks too?"

"Yes." Sharon sighed. "As I understand it, he hasn't come out to them yet. Rusty insists that they're still only friends, but…" She wasn't entirely sure and that worried her. She didn't want to see her son get hurt by someone who wasn't ready to step out into the world as he had done. It had taken a lot for Rusty to accept who he was, and for him to admit it to those people who were closest to him, even though they had already been well aware of those facts. Sharon shook her head. "He cares about TJ, and it is a little obvious that TJ is testing the waters, but I would rather that he did that with someone else. Rusty has been hurt enough."

Andy tried to remember what dating at that age had been like. He could remember that there had been a lot of girls, but little else. "They're young," he said finally. "They'll both figure it out. Maybe Rusty is exactly what TJ needs, you know? He's already gone through that part. He had you and Dr. Joe, but it might have been nicer if he'd had someone who could speak from experience." He turned his face into her hair again and let his lips brush her ear as he spoke. "Unless there is something that you haven't told me?"

Sharon snorted at him. "Keep dreaming, Flynn." She leaned her forehead against the side of his jaw. "Jack was the limit of my college experimenting, unless you would like to hear those stories…" She smiled at his grunt. "I didn't think so. TJ is a nice boy," she continued, "don't get me wrong. I do like him, and I understand that this is a confusing time for him, but Rusty is my worry."

"I know." His hand stroked her arm. He took a sip of his coffee. "Rusty is starting to get a pretty good head on his shoulders. Just wait and see what happens. He's always been pretty good at reading people, even if his reactions needed some work. Give him some time, see what he does."

"That is really all that I can do." Sharon leaned over and placed her cup on the small table beside them; she turned sideways against him and pulled his arm more firmly around her as she got comfortable. She laid her head against his shoulder and snuggled into his warmth. A smile curved her lips and a contented sigh left her. To her mind it was the perfect way to spend a lazy, Saturday morning.

Andy grinned at the way that she tucked her feet, out of habit, beneath his leg, even though they were encased in her black Uggs. When she curled her hands inside her sweater and folded her arms between their bodies, he shook his head. "Why do you come out here if you're just going to get cold?" The question was more teasing than true inquiry.

"Because I know that you'll find me and I'll get warm again." His hand was stroking her back in slow, lazy circles. Sharon smiled as she lay there, perfectly happy to watch the city continue to come alive as people started their day. After a moment, she laughed. "You are going to have to build a bigger porch, because I think this chair is definitely going with us."

He tried to imagine fitting it onto his porch as it existed now and nodded. "You're right. I can do that." He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "That's the loft, the extra vanity in our bathroom, and the porch. Anything else?"

"Hm. Not right now." Her lips curved up at the way that he was already calling it theirs. Sharon lifted her head after a moment to look at him. "You know, we've not really discussed how we are going to make this move work."

"I know." He reached down and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. His thumb traced the curve of her cheek. "I'm still just kind of enjoying the fact that you said yes." Part of him still wondered if it was a dream. Would he wake up and find that he had imagined it all? He studied her face, and the sparkle of her eyes. He watched them crinkle with amusement and grinned in response. "Well, when do you wanna do it? There's no rush." He said that, but he would like to get it over with sooner, rather than later. He didn't want to risk that she might just come to her senses and realize that she was making a mistake with a guy like him.

Sharon laid her head against his shoulder again while she thought about it. He was right, they did have time to work out the logistics. There was really no reason to rush now that the decision was made. "Ideally," she told him, "I would like to have it done before the holidays. Ricky and Emily will both be home again. It would be nice to know where they will be spending it."

"Ah." He nodded. "Your sense of occasion demands to know. I get it now." When she elbowed him, he laughed. "You know, we can probably do that. I'm not sure that I can have the loft finished by then, so Rusty will be staying in the house…" The rest was definitely doable.

A soft hum was his response. Sharon considered it for a moment. "If we contracted out the work, it could be finished within a few weeks." She felt him stiffen. "Let me finish," she said. "I know that you do not like contractors, and I am sure that you would do a beautiful job, but let's be realistic honey. How much could you really accomplish working on the occasional evenings and weekends?"

Andy sighed. "Not a lot." There was much of it that he was going to have to contract out anyway. He was good with his hands, but he wasn't a plumber, and they would need to rework some of the electrical too. Then there was the outdoor access. "Alright, you win." He was quiet for a moment. "What about this place? Are you going to lease it out?"

"No." She sat up and looked at him. "I was thinking that I would sell it. Leasing it feels like," she paused looking for the right words, "I am hanging on to a safety net. That is not how I want this relationship to go. I feel like we should either move forward completely or not at all."

"I know but…" He shrugged at her and smiled sheepishly. "I don't want to think that anything is going to happen, but what if it does? What if it doesn't work?" What if she woke up and realized what a huge mistake that she had made?

Fear of the unknown was a very big factor. Sharon smiled as she cupped his cheek. It was an unknown that they were stepping into together. "I would rather believe that if it was not going to work, that we would already know that and we would not have arrived at this point." She could see the worry in his eyes, the same worry that they had held the first time that he asked her on a date. "I think that we are going to be just fine."

He snorted at her word choice and drew her back against him. He set his coffee aside and wrapped both of his arms around her. He kissed the side of her head while he held her. "Okay," he said carefully. "Put the condo on the market and let's get you moved. Figure out what you want to take, and we'll put the rest in storage." Andy paused for a moment. "My recliner goes no where."

She laughed. "I would not dream of getting rid of your recliner." She liked the large sectional sofa too. The color was dark, and just a bit on the masculine side, but Sharon thought that if she painted the room a lighter color she could make it work with her orange chairs. They would just need to go through both residences and make a note of what was staying and would they could put in storage. A smile curved her lips. Rusty would have something to furnish his first apartment with at least. "I insist on redoing your kitchen," she told him.

"Yeah, I thought so." He leaned his head back and just enjoyed the feel of her against him. "I'm not going to recognize the place when you get done, am I?"

"No, probably not." Her voice shook with barely contained laughter. At least he was well aware of the fact that she was about to put her mark on every room in the house.

"Hm." Andy grunted quietly. He somehow had a feeling that would happen. He didn't mind. "I'm not sleeping in a pink room," he warned her. There was very little that he would actual veto if her heart was really set on it, but that definitely one of them.

"No pink rooms and the recliner stays," she agreed with a quiet chuckle. "Anything else?"

He was quiet for a moment. When he spoke again his voice was a low, teasing rumble. "What you do in your hamper is fine, but keep your damned damp towels out of mine." When she elbowed him Andy turned his face into her neck and closed his arms more tightly around her.

They spent the next hour discussing the logical next steps of combining their homes. There were financial considerations to be taken into account, like a joint household account for shared expenses and bills. Andy wouldn't let Sharon buy into the house, and she wouldn't allow him add her to the title without allowing her to contribute in some fashion. They finally agreed that he would allow her to pay for finishing the loft, as well as redecorating the house out of the sale of the condo.

Sharon was going to find a realtor the following week and start that process while Andy searched for a contractor. The rest would begin to fall into place as necessary. They would approach it as they did most everything else in their lives, one step at a time.

They were still deep in discussion when the balcony door slid open. A disheveled head poked out and turned toward them. Ricky studied his mother and her boyfriend for a moment. It was really the first time that he had the opportunity to see them together like this, despite everything that he heard about their relationship. "Are you planning to stay out here all day?"

"The idea is very appealing." Sharon smiled at her son. She slowly untangled herself from Andy and stood. "I was not aware that I was going to have company today, or I might have planned accordingly," she teased.

"Yeah?" Ricky smirked at her as she approached. "Well, Emily warned me to call ahead, but it was getting late. You know, past seven and all that. I didn't want to wake you."

Sharon rolled her eyes at him but leaned in to hug her son. "Then I am glad that Rusty was able to let you in. Hungry?" When his eyes lit up and he grinned, Sharon laughed. That was the only reason that he had decided to disturb her, she was sure. "Come on," she turned Ricky back inside and prodded him forward. "I will feed you."

"Well if there's going to be breakfast," Andy gathered their cups as he stood, "I guess he can stay."

Ricky's head inclined as the other man joined him at the breakfast bar. "Shouldn't that be my line?" he asked.

Andy's brows arched. "Did I interrupt your alone time with your girl?"

His lips pursed and he nodded slowly. "Good point. So, mom, food?"

"Oh my god." Sharon groaned as she opened the fridge. She almost thought that she preferred the quiet, too polite acceptance with which Andy and Rusty greeted each other to this. They were both a pair of goofballs she decided, although she supposed that she should be happy that they were getting along at all.

Ricky continued on, as if she had not spoken. "I mean, there's going to be a meat of some kind involved right?" He held up a hand as he looked at Andy. "No offense. Carnivore."

"I always knew there was something odd about you," he replied, "if you really need to eat it," he sighed, as if put upon. "I put up with it from your mother…"

"Says he who does not eat meat," Ricky shook his head. "You get that you're the oddball here, right?"

"Really?" Andy arched a brow at him. "You're going with that?" He pointed at Ricky's hair. "Do I even have to say it? Where did you come from?"

His lips pursed for a moment. Ricky snorted. "Some birthday celebration gone wild to hear my mother tell it."

Sharon rolled her eyes heavenward as they continued to banter back and forth. She told herself that at least they were not arguing. Ricky was not challenging him, although the polite boy that she had raised would not, at least not openly. Although she had never dreamed that her boy would challenge Rusty as he had when she decided to adopt him either, but she supposed that he had learned his lesson from that encounter.

As she considered what she could make that would satisfy both of these two men who were important to her, she also reflected on whether or not she would need patience to get through the next couple of hours. Both men had a sense of humor that ran from sarcastic to just a tad naughty. The battle of witty remarks was still ongoing behind her and it was shaping up to be a very long morning. Sharon regarded the two of them as she gathered ingredients for making waffles and rolled her eyes as they moved on to maligning the city's traffic and drivers. They were moving from one topic to the next at a speed that was almost making her dizzy.

They had done this at Christmas the previous year, she remembered. Ricky also did this with Rusty. That thought made Sharon stop for a moment, she wondered at getting the three of them together. If somehow, in that setting, Rusty might realize what he had in common with Andy. It might make things a little less awkward with her youngest child. Sharon resolved to make that happen before Ricky had to go home and turned her attention away from the pair.

She would let the boys play for now. If they got out of hand she would remind them that they were grown men and not a pair of twelve year olds. Which, she realized as the topic turned toward baseball, might be sooner than she thought. Sharon sighed as they began arguing about Andy's beloved Dodgers and Ricky's Giants.

Yes, it was going to be a very long morning indeed. Oddly enough, she was still enjoying it.

 **-TBC-**


	19. Chapter 19

**Leaping In**

 **by Kadi**

 **Rated T**

 **Disclaimer:** This is not my sandbox, this is just my favorite place to play. I promise to put all of the toys back when I'm done.

* * *

 **Chapter 19**

It was raining on the day that Emily left. Los Angeles had experienced one of its rare fall storms. The subsequent torrential downpour had delayed her flight from leaving for three hours, pushing out the inevitable, which was the fact that she was, indeed, returning to New York.

Her show had been a success. The reviews for _Coppélia_ had all been exceptionally good. She was returning to New York with that triumph and the promise of a bright future with more lead performances. The professional success had not prevented the sadness that surrounded her, or those that she was close to, as the day of her departure approached.

Emily had gone back and forth on the idea of leaving several times during the intervening weeks. In the end, after several conversations with her boyfriend, and her mother, she had to conclude that both of them were right. However much they all may for wish her to stay, she had to return. It was the only way that she was ever, truly, going to know where her place was. So after her show had wrapped, Emily had packed. She spent her remaining week in Los Angeles spending time with her family. She joined her mother and youngest brother in painting the kitchen in their new home. She was there to help her mother unpack the last of her boxes as she finished moving in with the man that Emily was very certain would one day be her stepfather. There had been no talk of marriage yet, and she supposed it was early days for that. For now they were content to live together.

There was something a little bit odd, and strangely hopeful, about watching her mother build a home for herself in a life that she was grasping hold of. She had Rusty with her, and she was making a home for him too. It was obvious that her life included him, in just the same way that it included Emily and her brother, but there was something else too. It had taken Emily a little while to understand what she was seeing. Her mother had become part of a unit. It was no longer just her and them, and this odd specter of their father hanging out in the distance somewhere. It was her and this man, and their children surrounding them. That was something for her to think about.

Emily grew up watching her mother balance her career and her family, and some how make all of it seem so very easy. She never realized just how difficult it could be to move between the two. Not until it was time for her to do the same. Even now it looked so effortless, the way that her mother juggled building her life with this man who was also her subordinate, while also balancing all of the relationships in both of their lives. In being home those several weeks Emily was able to see just how easy it was _not_ ; there were arguments and struggles, and moments where she knew that her mother needed to step beyond it all to keep from feeling as if she was being pulled in too many directions. When asked, she said that it was worth it.

Those were all thoughts that Emily weighed as she prepared for her return to the place that she had always called the city of her heart. As her plane finally lifted off on that rainy afternoon her head was full and her heart heavy.

It rained each day following Emily's departure, for almost a week, small showers poured down on the city. The sky was cloudy and gray, and although the sun would light the afternoons, it felt like a false cheer. The rain seemed to fit the mood, at least that surrounding a few people.

Provenza decided that the break room was probably a pretty good place to hide. As it turned out, he was right. He found two other people already hiding there. He closed the door behind him and leaned against. "Good god, how long can they keep moping around like this?"

Andy and Rusty were seated at a table in the center of the room. There was a soda in front of one, a cup of coffee in front of the other. They both looked up as their sanctuary was intruded upon. Andy sighed as he shook his head. "I'm giving her another couple of days, and then I expect her to rally." Since Emily had gone back to New York Sharon had been in a funk. They had known that it was coming, but she had gotten used to having her girl close. Now she was going to have to get used to their weekly phone calls filling the void again.

When both of the older men looked at him, Rusty's brows shot up. "When did I become the Buzz sitter?" There were two afternoons a week when he didn't have an afternoon class; he spent those days interning at the PAB, although lately, that was just a little bit depressing.

"Since his girlfriend left and no one else can stand to be around him," Provenza said. He walked over and filled a cup with coffee before joining them at the table. "I think I preferred it when he was just annoying. Now he's depressing."

"And depressed." Andy rested his chin in his hand. "You would be too if your girlfriend went back to living on the other side of the country. Give him a few days; he'll be all right. They knew it was coming."

Rusty rolled his eyes toward Provenza. "He's been saying that all week. Like he expects them both to just snap out of it. It's not happening."

"It's going to happen," Andy nodded. "She just needs a few more days..."

"How much time is he spending in the garage?" Provenza arched a brow at the young man. He thought his partner was insane for getting involved with their boss to begin with, and even crazier for moving in with her, but it seemed to be working. Who was he to judge? He had moved Patrice in with him months ago. If there was one thing, though, which they had both learned from all of their failed marriages, it was how to avoid their women when they were making them crazy.

"A lot." Rusty sighed. "That much sawdust and fumes can't be good for him, right?" Contractors were working on finishing the loft over the garage that was going to be his apartment, something that he was really looking forward to. He had his own room while he was living with Sharon, but this space would be totally his. They had even let him help design how it would look. Rusty couldn't wait to move in and make it his. The space below the garage, however, was still the Lieutenant's workshop. It was where he went while Sharon moped around the house missing Emily, all of it under the guise of redecorating and making the house just oh so perfect now that they had moved in.

"Probably not," Provenza slanted a look at his partner. "At least we can blame it on that. I don't want to have to consider the fact that we've got three of them moping around here."

Andy rolled his eyes at both of them. "It's going to be fine. You'll see." He was expecting this to be an issue when Emily left. He knew that Sharon was going to miss her, and that she would, in her own way, take it hard. She was proud of her daughter, though, and happy for her. She only wanted Emily to have the very best. She was going to miss her, and it would be more pronounced for the next little while, but very soon life would go back to normal. Or at least whatever passed as normal for them.

He couldn't exactly say that life was exactly _normal_ as other people defined it. How could he? It was damned odd when he thought about it. His girlfriend was living with him, and okay that was pretty damned normal, but when he took into consideration the fact that she had lunch with his ex-wife at least once a week... well, that was decidedly _ab_ normal.

Andy had almost lost it on the day that his ex-wife had shown up in the Murder Room with their daughter in tow, only to pull Sharon into her office and shut the door. The blinds had been closed a few seconds later, and had it not been for the fact that he had just told Nicole the evening before that Sharon was moving in with him, it might have been okay. There was nothing at all okay, however, about the two of them showing up to talk to the woman that he was trying to build a life with, at least not when Vicki had walked through the room to tug an almost stumbling Sharon into her office under the guise of _needing an intervention_.

Sharon had recounted the entire story to him later that evening. Apparently Nicole and Vicki had come to warn her, not to stop her from moving in with him, but to help her make living with him work. Andy took exception to that, but Sharon found the entire thing incredibly amusing. They had wanted her to understand just what she was getting herself into, and to make sure that she was aware of a few of his _issues_. They had some pointers for her. Like never bothering the tools in his garage, and how letting him cook was a really bad idea. They _warned her_ that he would forget that she existed if the Dodgers were playing, and especially if they made it to the play-offs. Then they had to point out all of his peculiarities... and told her that whatever she did, to never, ever leave damp towels in the hamper. Sharon was laughing quite happily as she told him about the conversation.

Andy wasn't so tickled by it, but as she explained it, she had assured them that she was very familiar with all of his habits and moods, and after dealing with him in a professional capacity for most of the last twenty years, she was certain that she could handle whatever _grouchy_ behavior he might throw her way. To say that he was put out with his ex-wife _and_ his daughter was putting it mildly. He had stomped around for a few minutes in a nice show of temper, and when he finally asked Sharon why Vicki had gotten involved to begin with, she had started laughing again. _"Apparently she really likes me,"_ had been the reply. He was pretty sure that he was well within his rights to be damned terrified by the fact that they got along so well. It wasn't natural. Of course, he also tried to remind himself that Vicki was having a hell of a year. She was changed by Jeff's death. It was something that was expected. They still fought. Good grief did he still fight with that woman. She was just trying harder to let go of the past and be more accepting of the person that he was now. Life was just too fleeting, she said, to hold on to all of the hurts and wrongs, and mistakes that both of them had made during their marriage and the years following.

Of course, as Provenza explained it, while it was pretty unusual for the two of them to get along - and he agreed that the situation was frightening, Sharon and Vicki had lived similar lives. They had both had husbands who drank away their marriages, and while there were a lot of differences between their histories too, they had also both moved on to happier relationships after their marriages ended.

Vicki was his past. Sharon was his future. He tried not to let it disturb him too much that the two of them got along so well. It could be worse, he supposed. They could despise one another. He didn't imagine that would make life easier on any of them; he had also made very sure to inform Sharon not to expect the same outcome with him and Jack. It was a struggle just to tolerate that guy on a good day, if she thought for one second that he was going to sit down and watch a game with that man, she had bumped her head. She had rolled her eyes at that one and sent him to the garage until he could come back in a better mood.

Actually, now that he thought about it, since she had moved in with him that seemed to be her preferred method of dealing with him if one of them was in an especially foul mood. If they were skirting around the edges of an argument, no matter who seemed to be at fault, she would maneuver him to the garage in some fashion and the separation, however long or short it might be given the time of day, would give both of them time to settle and relax, and then they were able to greet whatever the issue was with cooler heads. That wasn't to say that he was spending a lot of time out in the garage. He would worry if that were the case. At least, he wasn't spending a lot of time out there before Emily left. Now that Sharon had turned her attention to redecorating the house in an effort to distract herself from the fact that her daughter had moved back to New York he was, as Rusty said, staying out of her way. It made her happy, so who was he to complain? Besides which, Andy had expected Sharon to put her mark on the house, and she was certainly doing that.

"Did it occur to either one of you to give Buzz something else to think about?" Andy looked at Provenza and Rusty again. "His girlfriend just left town. Take him out, do something to get his mind off of it. Hiding out in here isn't going to do him any good."

"Of course it did," Provenza said. "Just five minutes ago I handed him my cell phone and asked him to reset it. The upgrade I did last night has everything messed up. All of my ring tones are gone. How am I going to know this one," he hooked a thumb at Flynn, "is calling me if it doesn't say _idiot on the line_."

Rusty snorted a laugh. "I don't think that's what he had in mind." He turned his can of soda in his hand and sighed. "I really don't think that there is a whole lot that any of us can do. We're just going to have to wait it out."

"Easy for you to say," Andy pointed out. "You can go to class. The rest of us are stuck with him." He sighed. He understood it. It was why he was in the break room. He didn't want to snap at Buzz for walking around looking pitiful. For one thing, that would just piss Sharon off, and for another, it felt a little bit like kicking a puppy. The guy was already down; he didn't want to add to it. Andy knew that he could be a real bastard sometimes, but that was pretty far out there, even for him.

Before Rusty could reply the break room door opened again. Julio poked his head inside. "We have to go. Roll out. Body over on Melrose. Looks like a suicide but the Chief wants us to check it out anyway."

"If it's a suicide," Provenza pointed out with a scowl, "why is he sending us? Doesn't he know that it's hot and humid outside?" It was a combination that was going to put him in a bad mood.

Julio shrugged at him. "Turns out the body is some Police Commissioner's cousin's wife's brother's uncle or something." He rolled his eyes. "I don't know, sir. The Captain sent me to find you. She wants us to check it out and rule out foul play."

"Oh well!" Provenza rolled his eyes as he stood up. "Of course _she_ isn't going. Her hair might curl in all this humidity and then she would really have something to mope around here about."

Andy started to nod before he caught himself. He scowled at his partner. "Watch it."

Rusty snickered. "The struggle is real."

"Oh stuff it," Provenza grumbled. "Let's go." When Rusty started to stand up too, he pointed a finger at him. "Not you."

He arched a brow at them. "I thought I was the Buzz sitter?" Amusement danced in his eyes. "I mean, I can't keep an eye on him if I'm stuck here, right? Who is going to watch him while you're gone?"

"Nice try kid." Andy snorted. "Tell you what, you go ask your mother if you can go to a crime scene, and if she says yes, you can tag along. Otherwise... not happening." When Rusty sat back down and his shoulders slumped, Andy nodded. "Yeah, I didn't think so. Don't worry; I doubt we'll be gone long. We'll let Julio watch him."

"What?" The younger Detective's eyes widened. "Why do I have to do it?"

"Because I have already put my time in," Andy explained. "I've got the mother. Rusty can't go with us. Tao is too married, Amy is too perky, and do you want this one," he pointed at Provenza, "to do it? Come on. Who is left?"

Julio sighed. "Fine." He turned to leave but was muttering in Spanish as he walked away.

Rusty snickered again. "I'm pretty sure that he just said something about getting a stripper and some beer. But I could be wrong," he quickly added. Buzz had been teaching him Spanish, but he was a little shaky on the verb conjugation.

Andy sighed as he left the break room. "Somehow this is going to end up being all my fault..."

 **MCMCMCMCMCMC**

Truer words had never been spoken, but Andy had no idea how it came to pass. He winced as the bedroom door was slammed closed. Sharon almost never slammed doors. She felt that it was a poor way of expressing ones self and lacked maturity. That was apparently right out of the window at the moment.

Rusty even looked up from where he sat on the sofa and stared, wide-eyed, in the direction that the slamming had come from. His head turned slowly. He blinked at the Lieutenant. "What did you do?"

"I wish I knew." Andy's shoulders slumped. His head bowed. It was late. Their possible suicide had turned out to be exactly that, but Taylor wanted them to be sure. They had spent several hours proving that the man had killed himself before finally turning everything that they had over to the Medical Examiner's office and closing the case. "She was fine when we left the office." Something had obviously happened between there and home. What that something was, he couldn't say, and he was almost afraid to ask. He spoke to her before they left. She was tired, but in an otherwise good mood. They had even discussed dinner, and ultimately decided that they would order something when they got home. Then they had gotten in their separate vehicles and driven away. Andy had followed her, and as occasionally happened when neither of them needed to make a stop on the way home, and traffic wasn't that horrible, they managed to arrive within moments of each other.

Sharon was already stepping onto the porch when Andy got out of his car. He hadn't even spoken to her since leaving the PAB. When he told Rusty that he had no idea what he'd done to make her angry, he was telling the absolute truth. He even tried to think back over the day and nothing stuck out to his mind that would cause an argument between them. Finally he looked at the kid and shrugged. "I'm going to have to go in there."

"I think so." Rusty looked down the hall again. "Just for the record," he told him, "If you're not out in twenty minutes there is no way that I am coming in after you." There was no power on Earth that would make him open that door once it was closed. After they disappeared into that room, as far as he was concerned, they were on their own.

"Yeah." Andy rolled his eyes. "Thanks a lot kid. I can't tell you how much that means to me." He shook his head as he walked around the sofa. "Do me a favor, order something for dinner." He fished his wallet out of his pocket and tossed it to Rusty. "At this point, I don't think we really care what it is. You know what everyone likes…." He paused just a beat before adding, "and doesn't like."

"Got it." Rusty caught the wallet easily and reached for his phone. He decided that he would call the Chinese place a few blocks away. It delivered and the food would reheat. That was a pretty important factor since he had no idea how long it would be before they left the room again.

It was with a great deal of caution that Andy opened his bedroom door. He poked his head inside and quickly scanned the room. He spotted Sharon easily. She was seated on the edge of the bed. She was leaning forward, face resting in the palm of her hand while her shoulders shook. Whatever apprehension he felt immediately fled as he walked into the room to sit beside her. He laid his hand on her back and leaned close, while trying to see beyond the curtain of hair that was obscuring her from his view. "Sharon?"

She made a strangled sound. Her entire body shook with it. Her hand covered her mouth, as if to muffle the sound. She shook her head at him. She could feel the worry that was flowing off of him, even as he rubbed her back in slow, soothing strokes. Sharon lifted her head after another moment to look at him. Her eyes were bright, shining not with tears, but laughter. "You need to call your daughter," she managed.

His brows drew together in a deep scowl. She wasn't crying at all. Nor was she in the least upset. Andy straightened beside him. "You're laughing."

Sharon pressed her lips into a thin line and nodded. The phone that was clasped tightly in her other hand began to ring again. Sharon looked down and snorted another laugh. She covered her face again. "Oh god."

Andy followed her gaze. His scowl deepened. It was Vicki calling, and from Sharon's reaction, she was calling _back_. "What the hell is going on?" She had him worried that she was mad. Well, she was mad all right, but of a different variety.

"Call your daughter," She told him. Sharon stood up as she answered the phone. She didn't bother with a greeting. "No, he hasn't called her yet. We just got home. Give me five minutes, Victoria." Sharon hung up the phone and turned. She pointed a finger at him. "Now."

"God almighty." Andy dug his phone out of his pocket. He had two missed calls from Nicole. He shook his head as he called her back. "Sometimes I feel like I live in a damned farce."

"Oh honey, you have no idea." She snickered again. Sharon turned away from him and stepped out of her heels. She shrugged out of her blazer and quickly traded her blouse and skirt for one of his t-shirts and a pair of yoga pants. After she had finished changing, while he talked to his daughter, she slipped on a sweater and left the room. The phone in her hand was already ringing again. Sharon sent it to voicemail and turned the ringer off as she walked into the living room.

Rusty looked up. Surprise was written across his face. "That didn't take long." Their arguments, even when they weren't _really_ arguments usually took a lot longer. "What did he do?"

"Who?" Sharon sat down beside him on the sofa. She waved a hand through the air as she placed her cellphone on the coffee table in front of them. She drew her legs up and got comfortable. "Andy? He didn't do anything. He needs a minute." The corners of her mouth twitched again.

She looked entirely too happy about something. Rusty arched a brow at her. "What is going on?" His eyes narrowed. "What did _you_ do?"

"I had absolutely nothing to do with it." Her eyes gleamed. Sharon tilted her head at him. "Nicole has something that she needs to tell him." They both watched as her phone started to vibrate on the coffee table.

Rusty stared at it for a minute. "Um. You understand that's just weird, right?" He might not know a whole lot about adult relationships or marriage, or any of that really, but he knew enough to know that the ex-wife calling the new… well, not wife, but whatever Sharon and Andy considered themselves, it just wasn't the way that things were supposed to be. It was more than weird. It was completely backwards.

"Hm." She nodded. "I am aware, yes. It is what it is, Rusty." She leaned her elbow against the back of the couch as she turned toward him. She rested her head in her hand and smiled. "Vicki is having a bit of a night. It may end up being a long one." Before he could ask her, again, what was happening, she smiled brightly at him. "Nicole is pregnant."

"Wow." His eyes widened. Then he frowned. "Wait, isn't she in Tokyo?" Nicole had been gone for almost two weeks now on an extended business trip. She wasn't expected back until the end of the month. "Why not just tell everyone when she gets back?"

Sharon laughed again. "Well, apparently, she and Dean knew before she left. They hadn't planned on telling anyone until after she got home. As it turns out, Michael accidentally overheard them talking on the phone and told his brother. Tommy then told his Uncle Charlie." Her eyes glittered happily. "Charlie asked his mother about it, and then she called me wanting to know if Andy and I had heard anything. Of course we hadn't, so she spoke to Dean. He put her off, but she could tell that he was being evasive. Nicole called her almost immediately and now she is telling Andy before he can hear it from anyone else." She waved a hand in the air as she spoke. "Now Vicki is beside herself because A) she's going to be a grandmother and B) her daughter did not tell her. Oh, and C) she is an ocean away while this news is breaking. It is rather… inconvenient." As a mother she could very well understand Vicki's upset. She would feel the same way if it were Emily.

"God." Rusty just stared at her. He blinked a few times. "Sharon, there is not a single one of you that is in any way normal." Rusty closed his book and placed it on the coffee table. "The stepdaughter, who is not your stepdaughter because you're not married, is having a baby. She didn't tell anyone because she was going to be gone on business, but now everyone knows anyway. The ex-wife who is suddenly your new best friend is freaking out so she calls _you_ and now we're going to have to deal with your boyfriend all night because _he_ is going to freak out, and am I the only one around here who remembers that Nicole already has kids?"

She pressed her lips together to keep from laughing and nodded. "As I said, it is a bit of a situation." Sharon shook her head at him. "Rusty, what Nicole has are stepsons. She adores them yes, and I do not think that she could love them anymore if she had given birth to them, but this is a little different. They came to her as toddlers. She had to build this relationship with them." Her head inclined and she searched for the right words to explain it to him. "Take you and I for example. You came to me a few years ago, already a teenager, and more than half grown. I love you as much as I love Emily or Ricky, but there are memories and experiences that you and I will never share. We are building our own memories and life together, and it is just as special as what I had with your brother and sister, but they are still two very different situations." She cupped his cheek for just a moment, because he was her child, but he was not her baby. She had never held him or sang to him. She had missed all of his firsts, and in a way she ached for that. There were still many more to come, however, and rather than regretting what was missed, she cherished what they had. "This will not be Nicole's first child, not in the way that you and I think of it. She will not love this child any more or differently than she loves Michael and Tommy, but creating a life, and feeling it, bringing it into this world and watching it grow, that is something precious and humbling. Yes, she is already a mother, but this will be a new experience for her, for all of them, really. Vicki and Andy both adore those boys, but Nicole is their child. They are going to experience this with her." She offered a warm smile. She could see that he was thinking very hard about what she said. "Am I making any sense at all?"

"I think so." He had turned to face her. Rusty pulled a pillow into his lap and held it. "I get it. I know you love me, but you're right. We didn't have all that. I didn't grow up with you, and believe me there are times that I wish that I had… but then," he quickly added before she could get weirdly emotional on him, "I wouldn't be as normal as I am." Rusty smiled when she laughed, even if it was a watery chuckle. "That is okay though. I had my mom, and for the first part of my life, she was actually pretty good. The bad stuff came later. I'm glad that there are some good memories. It kind of makes it feel like, you know, some day she'll be okay again." Rusty looked down. He shrugged. "Whether she is or she's not, it will still be okay. I'll have you." He would never stop wanting his other mother to get well, to be able to live a life free of drugs and alcohol, of lying and stealing, and cheating. He wanted her to have a good life, but he couldn't give it to her. Only she could do that for herself.

"Yes you will," Sharon said thickly. She reached out and touched his chin. She tipped his face up and smiled brightly at him. "That is something that will never change." She would not stand between any relationship that he wanted to have with his biological mother, but she would not allow the woman to hurt him again either. He was hers now, just as he had been hers since the day that he had come to her. "What Nicole is going to find," she told him, "is that Tommy and Michael are the children that her heart has chosen. She will raise them, and she will love them, and they will always be hers. The only difference will be her memories of them. She will find other ways to celebrate them, and what they mean to her."

"Yeah." Rusty rolled his eyes at her because now she was getting too sentimental on him. It meant a lot, but it was also a lot of emotion in one sitting. "I got it." He knew what they had, and he knew that he didn't have to question it any longer. "I guess I'm just surprised that everyone is freaking out the way that they are."

Sharon laughed. "Well, it isn't necessarily about Nicole becoming a mother. It's about the realization that your child is actually old enough to have a child of her own. She acquired children. Now she is having one."

"Ah." Rusty grinned widely. "You mean like you freaked out when Emily thought—"

Her eyes narrowed. "Something like that. Thank you, Rusty, for reminding me." Sharon shook her head at him. Somehow he managed to turn this around on her, and it wasn't entirely surprising. "Well that just spoiled it." She was enjoying the fact that Vicki and Andy were facing the same moment that she had only _almost_ faced several weeks before.

Rusty watched her shoulders slump and laughed. "Sorry. I didn't mean to ruin your fun. It's okay. Go back to enjoying it."

"No, that's okay," she said, just a bit airily. "It's over. The fun is gone. We're all old." She leaned her head back against the sofa with a sigh. "Oh god," she realized suddenly.

"What?" Rusty's eyes widened again. He squinted when she sat upright on the sofa.

"This child is going to grow up thinking that _I_ am its other grandmother." She moaned and leaned forward, burying her face in the throw pillow. "Oh my god."

"Mmhm." Rusty reached for his book again. Her phone began to vibrate at the same moment. "Bet you didn't think this was going to happen when you started dating the old guy that you were already mostly dating. How is that working out for you?"

She lifted her head and gave him a bland look. "Rusty, I have found that life rarely works out exactly as you plan. It is neither good nor bad, it simply is." She took her pillow and hit his leg with it. "Don't make fun of your mother, it isn't very nice." She reached for her phone and this time she answered it. "Yes Vicki…"

Rusty just laughed. He watched her stand up and leave the room. She had obviously found someone to commiserate with. "Not a single normal one in the bunch," he said to himself. "They all need me." Rusty had to admit, Sharon had a point. They could plan all they liked, but sometimes life had a whole other set of ideas for how things should go.

 **MCMCMCMCMCMC**

Emily was thinking something very similar as she stepped off the elevator and onto the ninth floor of the PAB. How often had she heard her grandmother say that _people plan, while God laughs_. She wasn't sure that she believed that entirely, but she did know that life had a way of going in exactly the opposite direction than the one it was directed toward.

When she first moved to New York she had so many ideas and dreams, plans for how her life would take shape and the career that she was going to have. She had worked hard to try and make those dreams a reality, and in some ways, she knew that she had achieved many of them. She supposed that the lesson she was learning now was that plans had a way of changing.

There was nothing that was written in stone. Or rather, life should not be written in stone. It was ever changing. Constantly moving. From one moment to the next it may not resemble the thing that it was previously. People could set goals for themselves, but in reaching them, they could often find that there was so much more out there, just waiting to be reached for.

That was why, ultimately, after arriving in New York and realizing that it was not at all where she wanted to be, Emily began making other arrangements for her life. After two days of absolute misery she gave notice at the Company that she was not going to be renewing her contract at the end of the year. She would not be auditioning for the winter season. She was walking away. She sublet her apartment, and at the end of the lease, she would be free of it. Then she gave away, donated, sold, or packed all of her belongings. What she could not live without she had shipped to Los Angeles. She supposed that she had looked a bit like a crazy person, doing all of that in only a week. She had simply made up her mind, and once that was done, there was nothing to hold her back.

The halls of the ninth floor were dimly lit as she walked them. That was not unusual given the incredibly late hour. Her plane had landed only two hours ago. She had gone home first, but the apartment had been empty. Buzz hadn't answered his phone when she called, and Emily decided that must mean that he was busy. She expected her mother's division to be heavily involved in a case. She was surprised to step into the Murder Room and find it empty.

Like the rest of the ninth floor the lights had been dimmed. Her mother's office was dark and there was not a single person in sight. Emily frowned as she moved toward the center of the room. It was eerily quiet in there that time of night. She sighed as she turned. Her shoulders slumped a bit. He hadn't answered his phone and he was not at work. She supposed that meant he was probably on patrol.

Emily turned and made her way back down the hall. As she passed it, she realized that the lights in the break room were still on. It seemed out of place, given that the rest of the lights on that floor had been lowered. She pushed the door open and leaned inside. That was where she found him.

A smile curved her lips as she stepped into the room. He was standing at the counter pouring himself a cup of coffee. It wasn't all that odd to find him there alone. He preferred cataloguing his video footage when there was no one else around. It gave him the best opportunity to do it without interruption. Emily let the door close quietly behind her and leaned back against it. "There you are."

He jumped at the sound of her voice. Then he hissed when coffee sloshed over the side of his cup and onto his hand. He shook it off as he turned. He was not expecting anyone else to be on the ninth floor that time of night, and certainly not Emily. For a moment Buzz thought that he might have fallen asleep at his desk and was dreaming. He stared at her for several seconds before shaking his head. It wasn't that he was unhappy to see her, but he was incredibly surprised. "What are you doing here?"

She pushed away from the door and offered a small smile. "I told you that I would come back to LA as soon as I could. Here I am." Her hazel eyes sparkled as she walked toward him. Emily dropped her purse onto one of the tables. She moved closer and took his hand. The skin was red but not too terribly damaged.

"I wasn't expecting you until Christmas," he admitted. Buzz was still staring at her and now that she was close enough, the feel of her hand on his, with the way that her lightly scented perfume filled the room, told him that it wasn't a dream at all. "Emily." He was happier than he could probably put into words, but at the same time he felt his stomach clench. He was already anticipating her leaving again. "What is going on?" He could understand that she would be homesick, leaving had not been any easier for her than it had been for the rest of them, but it had only been a week.

"I changed my mind." She drew a thin a breath and let it out slowly. Emily shrugged at him. "New York was cold. It was dreary and wet. I missed the sun." She looked down for a moment and exhaled again. "It wasn't… it isn't _home_ anymore," she explained quietly. "I didn't want to be there. So I'm not. I had a couple of offers when I left last week. My mother was right, they're better contracts than the one that I had in New York. I already have a couple of meetings set this week to really talk about what they could mean for me…" She looked up at him again, this time through her lashes. "I went back. I spoke to my girlfriends. I had coffee on the east side. I jogged through Central Park. I… went shopping in Manhattan, and I didn't want any of it. I want to go hiking in the hills and running on the beach. I want to have brunch with my mother. I want to… drive down Sunset and see my face on a Billboard," she laughed. "I want to torment my brother and meet him for lunch between classes. I want…" She stopped talking when her voice hitched. Emily shook her head. "I wanted to rewind my life and have it be two weeks ago."

"Emily." He caught the single tear that rolled down her cheek and swept it away with the pad of his thumb. What Buzz wanted was for her to be happy, and he had missed her like crazy, but he didn't want her to regret giving up any part of the life that she had dreamed. "There is nothing wrong with missing home," he said quietly. "It's why you visit as often as you can. All of those things are here for you to do. What about your dreams?"

Emily closed her eyes for a moment. She concentrated simply breathing. Her hand lifted and curled around his wrist. She turned her face into his palm. How could she explain how much lighter she felt being at home? "My father left my mother to chase dreams that didn't include her or us." She said quietly. "I have heard my whole life how much like him I am. All I can think about lately is what he said when he found out that my mother was moving in with another man." Emily's eyes opened and she looked up at him. "He said that he gambled away the best part of his life when he let her go. I love my dad, but I don't want to be like him. Not that way. I don't know what's going to happen with us, but I don't want to be someone who turns their back on something great because they are so busy chasing something better. I would rather be the woman that my mother raised." When she smiled, it lit her face. Her eyes were still bright with unshed tears, but there was no sadness in her gaze. "I can chase my dreams, and I can build my life, and it is going to be hard. I may stumble along the way, but if I've learned anything it is how to get back up and keep moving forward. My family is here. My life is here. My future is going to be what I make of it. I guess the only question is… do you want to be part of that?"

Rather than answer immediately he pushed his hands into her hair. He tipped her head back and studied her face. Never had she looked more certain of her decision. She had been wavering on it for weeks, he knew. There had always been an underlying question in her eyes, in the way that she spoke of it, and with the caution with which she had approached the idea of altering her plans for the future. That doubt was gone. She was smiling back at him. When her hands curled around his wrists and her brows lifted, he knew that she was waiting for an answer. She had done what he hadn't thought she would. She had walked right to the edge of everything she knew, held her breath, and taken a leap. There was no safety net, and nothing but him to catch her as she fell. Now it was his turn to make a decision. The corners of his mouth twitched and then curved toward a grin. "Only if you promise not to let your mother shoot me."

She hummed. "You know, I am pretty sure that isn't going to be a problem. At this point, I think she may like you more than she likes the rest of us." She leaned into him as her smile widened.

"Well, I refuse to cut my own hair. It was a huge selling point." She was laughing when he kissed her. There was going to be a lot that they were going to have to figure out, but for the moment, he would just enjoy having her _home_.

They didn't get to enjoy the moment for very long. The break room door opened again. The lights went off, but were quickly turned back on. "You have got to be kidding me!"

They pulled apart and turned, and found Russell Taylor glaring darkly at the both of them. Buzz cleared his throat. "Chief." Emily turned her face into his shoulder but only barely managed to muffle her snicker.

He pointed a finger at them. His mouth opened and closed several times but there was no sound forthcoming. Finally he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Go home," he told them. "Just…" He shook his head at them. "Christ." He pointed his finger at them again, especially when Emily laughed, and shook it. "Whatever you do, tell her mother that she's back in town, _tonight_. That sad kitten look is starting to even depress Provenza."

Buzz nodded slowly. "Yes sir." It was all that he could do to keep a straight face, especially with Emily cackling at the description of her mother. "Jet lag," he said, pointing at the laughing woman in front of him. "I'm just going to…"

"Take her home!" Taylor turned away from them. He left the break room behind. "Damned kids today… making out here, there, and everywhere. We have laws against that kind of thing." He spoke loudly enough that he knew they would hear him. "Next time I catch them," he decided, "I'm going to write them a ticket…" He nodded to himself as he walked back to his office.

On the upside, her mother was going to be in a much better mood come morning. Taylor rubbed his hands together. That was good. He would much rather deal with her when she wasn't walking around looking less than adversarial. There was a little matter of a written report that she had left on his desk the previous week that he had been waiting to get even with her about. Russell decided that he would give her until mid-morning and then it was going to be _game on_.

He didn't know about everyone else, but he was certainly feeling better already. It was a happy day indeed…

 **-TBC-**


	20. Chapter 20

**Leaping In**

 **by Kadi**

 **Rated T**

 **Disclaimer:** This is not my sandbox, this is just my favorite place to play. I promise to put all of the toys back when I'm done.

 **A/N:** This was actually supposed to end with Chapter 19, but the beta **deenikn8** & **kate04us** both asked for this brief chapter to answer some of their questions...

Again - thank you all for the kind comments/follows/faves. You rock!

* * *

 **Epilogue:**

It was a rare occasion that brought the entire family together. With both Charlie and Ricky living up state, and each of them having busy schedules, it was difficult to arrange a family gathering that would include everyone, especially when Sharon and Andy took their own unpredictable work schedule into account. Impromptu family barbecues were doable, but including all of their children involved more careful planning.

The Fourth of July seemed a good opportunity to have everyone together. Not since Mother's day had Sharon had all three of her children together, and while both Charlie and Ricky had visited a few times over the course of the year, not since Christmas had all of their children been together in the same location. To date, that had been the first and only occasion that had brought all of them together.

It had been awkward and interesting all at the same time. Nicole and Emily had regarded each other carefully. They both had brothers, but there was something unique in being the only daughter on each side of the family. They were both also in the unique position of having once asked their parents for a sister rather than a brother. Neither woman was entirely sure what to think of the other. They had both been raised to be intelligent and independent women, but where Nicole was very analytical and business minded, Emily was an artist, a free spirit. It helped that they shared similar interests, but they had both approached getting to know one another carefully.

The boys had not seemed to have the same reservations. Charlie had grown up with a stepbrother in Jake, and after the inclusion of Rusty into the family, Ricky was taking the rest in stride. The boys were well matched in personality and humor. Charlie was very much his father's son, and when they were together, Ricky was able to get along with him just as he did his mother's boyfriend. With the girls they found that they had another _sister_ to annoy. Nicole handled Ricky just as she did Charlie and Jake, and it was nothing at all for any of them to find Emily and Charlie going head to head in some argument or another.

Bringing their two families together was a process, one that they were approaching carefully. At the same time, Sharon and Andy expected their grown children to act like the adults that they were. If they could not get along, they would at least be civil to one another. That had not been a problem so far. Even when Emily and Charlie argued there was some underlying enjoyment in the activity. There was just no denying that they both enjoyed the bickering.

Emily was considering that as she sat watching her mother. It had been almost a year since she had made the decision to move back to Los Angeles. The coming fall months would mark a year since her mother had moved in with the man that Emily was still expecting that she would some day marry, if for no other reason than so that her grandmother would stop lighting candles for their sinful ways. The yard was filled with people. They had invited friends as well as family to celebrate the holiday with them. Emily's head inclined while she reflected on just how easily that they seemed to fit together, even while they stood laughing with members of their team, Andy had an arm draped casually around her mother's shoulders. She looked at her brother, seated beside her, and her brows lifted in askance. "Do you think that he is ever going to ask her to marry him?"

"Are you kidding me?" Rusty leaned back in the wide Adirondack chair that he was occupying. He balanced the plate that was in his lap carefully and shook a French fry at his sister. "They're already married."

There was a snort from his other side. "They just don't know it." Nicole craned her head to the side so that she could see around Rusty. "Don't worry, they'll catch up eventually. They usually do." She shifted where she sat and got comfortable in the lounge chair again. There was an infant lying against her shoulder, covered by a pale pink blanket. Her hair was pulled back and she was utterly exhausted, but she was content to lay in the shade while her husband mingled and their sons played. Nicole had debated on even joining the rest of the family for the afternoon. The baby, Beth, was only a few weeks old. Had it not been for the fact that Nicole knew, very well, that if she had not arrived with the rest of her family that her father would have come to fetch her, she might have taken the opportunity presented to spend a quiet afternoon at home. She loved her boys, but the transition of adding a new baby had been a very busy one. Especially when that baby was not yet sleeping more than a couple of hours a time.

"I wouldn't worry about it." Charlie was seated at the foot of the lounger beside his sister's feet. He pushed his sunshades onto his head and shrugged at them. "There's going to be a question. He's got the ring."

Every head turned toward him. Nicole nudged his leg with her foot. "How do you know?" Her hand stroked the baby's back when she grunted in response to the sound of her mother's voice.

Charlie shrugged at her. "I helped him pick it out." He glanced at the others. They were staring at him too. "What?" He waved a hand at where his father was standing with the woman. "You were just asking if they were ever going to do it. What's the big deal?"

"He asked _you_ to help him pick it out?" Nicole was staring at her brother. The last time their father had bought something for his girlfriend he had come to her. "Why would dad ask you?"

"Why wouldn't he?" Charlie scowled at her. "It was a ring, not a dress. I think we can handle it. You were busy growing a human," he reminded her. "The old man finally made up his mind right after you had Beth. He's been working on it for a while now."

"Like we said," Rusty smirked, "they will catch up eventually." He shook his head at that.

"He hasn't asked her yet." Emily's lips pursed. "How long do we expect that to take?"

"Oh come on guys." Charlie shook his head at them. "Give the old man a little credit. He's had the ring for a couple of weeks. It will happen."

Emily snorted at him. "Before or after Christmas?"

"He would have already asked her by now, little Dancing Queen, if it hadn't been for you," Charlie pointed out. He smirked at her. "Everyone knows that you have been the center of attention for the last few months."

Her jaw dropped open. Emily sat up straight in her chair. "What are you talking about? At no point did I have anything to do with your dad not asking my mom to marry him. That is insane. Have you bumped your head?"

Nicole looked at Rusty and shook her head. She smiled when he rolled his eyes. Here they went. The conversation was about to become very interesting. Although there were times when he tried to deny it, her brother was very much like their father. Nicole watched as his eyes darkened and narrowed. "Should we just be happy that he's thinking about it _now_ ," she asked, hoping to deflect the argument that was brewing.

Charlie ignored her. He leaned forward where he sat and pointed a finger at his future stepsister. "You're the one that went and got engaged, and now wants to have the perfect Christmas wedding. Your mom has been a little preoccupied, in case you're a little too self-involved to notice."

When he looked at her and winked Nicole groaned. Charlie was winding Emily up on purpose. She nudged his leg with her foot. "You are terrible."

"Me?" Emily gaped at him. "Your sister is the one that had to go and have a baby," she pointed at Nicole. "In case it's missed _your_ notice both of our parents have been a little bit busy going gaga over the new granddaughter." Whatever moaning and groaning their parents had done upon finding out that they were going to be grandparents had faded quickly. It was as if the entire family had been taken over by baby mania, and Emily knew that she was just as bad as the others; it wasn't only her mother who had indulged in a great deal of shopping for the new little one.

Nicole's brows rose. "How is this suddenly my fault?" A smile was tugging at her lips. "Before you answer, can I just point out, I've been waiting for those two to get it together for a couple of years now. The rest of you are late to the party." She looked at Rusty. "Well, not you, obviously."

"We are living in the middle of this." He stuffed a fry into his mouth and looked at his siblings. The entire conversation was incredibly amusing to him.

"You're a Flynn." Ricky nudged her leg over and dropped down to sit on the lounger beside Charlie. "That makes it automatically your fault. What are we talking about?"

"Andy got mom a ring," Emily said, "But he hasn't asked her to marry him yet."

"That's old news." Ricky shrugged. "You mean he still hasn't asked?" He shook his head. "I just thought mom was doing the whole, wait until we're all together to announce it thing. I'm starting to worry about him."

"Wait." Nicole shifted the baby in her arms as she sat up. "You told Ricky?" She glared at her brother. "Why would you do that?"

"My question is why would he not tell us," Rusty squinted at his brother. "How long have you known about this?"

"I don't know." Ricky shrugged. "A couple of weeks I guess? Since we helped him pick out the ring. Why?"

"Whoa!" Emily and Rusty both sat up. "He asked _you_?"

"I cannot believe that this is happening." Nicole stared at the two boys sitting beside her. "Dad has lost his mind."

"Why?" Ricky reached across and took a fry off of his brother's plate. "It's my mom. Why wouldn't he ask me?"

"Hello!" Rusty stared at him. "What are we? Stepchildren?"

"Not yet. Soon enough." Charlie smirked at him. He nudged Ricky beside him. "The wicked witch is going to be our wicked stepmother."

"Yeah?" Ricky grinned crookedly at him. "The pain in the ass Lieutenant is going to be our pain in the ass stepdad."

There was amusement dancing in Charlie's dark eyes. "How about that. I don't get the problem. They act like the world is ending."

Ricky shrugged. "Hormones," he said, nodding his head at Nicole.

Charlie nodded. Then he waved a hand at Emily. "Drama Queen."

They looked at each other and smirked as they both said, "Rusty." It was as if there was no other way to describe the situation as it pertained to the youngest of them.

"Oh!" Emily pointed a finger at Charlie. "You..."

The commotion on the other side of the yard had drawn the attention of the _adults_ that were present. Vicki shook her head as she topped off her glass of iced tea. "Sharon, your little darling is picking on my little hellion again."

She leaned around her lover to get a look at the situation. "Yes, I see that." Sharon shrugged. "One day soon he will learn to stop provoking her."

"See," Andy pointed at his partner. "You thought that the world was doomed because we stopped fighting all the time and started getting along." He nodded at where Emily and Charlie were now standing, intensely involved in an argument that, from the looks of it, all of the children were quite enjoying. "You can stop worrying. Those two have got it under control."

Provenza squinted as he studied them. "The hell you say." He reached out and grabbed Buzz. He gave the younger man a shove. "Hurry up and get over there. This is how it starts. One day it's all _ooh you're so annoying_ and the next thing we know they're _not dating_."

Buzz shrugged the Lieutenant off. "Would you stop? You're going to wrinkle me." He moved away from the older man. "Trust me when I tell you that it's okay. Emily has started classifying him and Ricky as the two stooges. Even if she had not, I know that you like to deny that marriage is an institution that actually still exists, but it is, and it _will_ be happening very soon."

"Good, then you can be as miserable as the rest-" He stopped talking when Patrice slapped his arm. Of course, they weren't married, and neither were Flynn and the Captain. Marriage was for the young as far as he was concerned. Well, the young and insane. His eyes narrowed. He looked at his partner. The Captain was still not wearing the ring that he had dropped a small fortune on. That meant that he hadn't asked her yet. The idiot. Provenza made a mental note to tell him to get it done soon. None of them were getting any younger.

The fact that he had looked at her left hand before scowling at his partner was not lost on Sharon. She rolled her eyes at him. "He asked."

The older man's brows shot up. "And?"

She shrugged. "He had the ring hidden in the back of his sock drawer for two weeks before he finally got around to doing it. I have decided that he can wait at least that long for me to give him an answer."

Andy nodded slowly. "She is evil."

"And you're deranged," his partner told him. "The two of you are enough to drive anyone crazy. You are not really-"

"No." Sharon laughed. "We are going to tell the kids later." She looked over at where the five of them were still bickering. "For now we will let them have their fun."

"If they start taking bets we might draw it out a little." Andy grunted when she elbowed him. "What? It would serve them right." He pulled her closer to keep her from doing it again. "Besides, someone in this relationship likes to shop, and it ain't me. Think about what you could buy after we finish taking the kids to the cleaners for betting against us."

Sharon's lips pursed while she thought about it. "You know, that is not an entirely bad idea."

Andy sighed as he rolled his eyes heavenward. "Always the tone of surprise…"

"Oh stop it!" Sharon poked him. "You are being terrible. We are not dragging it out, and you are not going to tease the kids."

"Oh yes I am." He grinned crookedly. "All five of them have got it coming. I'm going to enjoy the hell out of this." Andy dropped a kiss to the top of her head before stepping away. "Right now I'm going to go and rescue Beth before they teach her any bad habits."

"We are not babysitting tonight, Andy." Sharon shot a pointed look at him as he crossed the yard. He would have the baby in his arms for all of five minutes and be offering to take her for the rest of the evening. When he pouted Sharon folded her arms across her chest and shook her head at him. "No." She watched him lift the baby and start back toward her. "Don't even think about it."

"Why not?" He turned the baby so that she was lying back against his chest. His large hand splayed across her belly and chest, while the other settled beneath her bottom. "Come on… Nicole and Dean could take the boys to watch the fireworks. It's only for a couple of hours." Andy grinned at her. Then he bent his head and dropped a kiss onto the soft down of dark hair that covered the baby's head. "How can you say no to that little face?"

Sharon groaned. She covered her face with her hand. " _Andy_." They had plans for the evening. Of course, they were plans that were easily changed, and he knew that. "You haven't even asked her parents if they would like us to babysit tonight," she pointed out logically. "Nicole may not be prepared for—"

"Hey Nic," Andy called toward his daughter. "We're keeping the baby tonight. That a problem?"

No sooner had her father taken the baby than Michael and Tommy had both climbed into the lounger with her. Nicole had a little boy on each side of her. She looked across the yard. Her father was almost imploring her to say yes, while behind him Sharon was steadily shaking her head no. "Oh god." If she told him no he would give her that sad, puppy look that he always got when she took Beth away. "Dad, that's really great, but—"

"See." Andy smirked triumphantly at Sharon. "It's all settled."

"No," she said at length, "it is not. That was not an agreement. Beth is going home with her parents," she told him. Sharon laughed when his bottom lip poked out. "That is not going to work this time, Andy."

"It's only for a couple of hours," he continued. He stepped forward and started passing the baby into her arms. "They can swing by and pick her up after watching the fireworks with the boys. It will be great."

"No it… I'm not going to." Sharon sighed as she had to take hold of the baby. She lifted Beth to her shoulder and glared at him. "We will talk about this later," she promised.

"Sure we will." Andy shoved his hands into his pockets and smirked at her. He rocked back on his heels. "Be the hard ass all you want. Nic is gonna play hell getting her back now and you know it."

Sharon cupped the back of the baby's head and turned away from him. "Language!" She walked around him, but not without allowing her shoulder to bump his. She would not admit to any such thing. "I cannot believe that I let myself be talked in to marrying that goofball…"

Andy chuckled as she walked away. She wasn't talking to him or the others, but the baby. His gaze followed her as she walked over to join the kids. Rusty stood up and let her have his chair. While he watched, she fell into conversation with Nicole easily enough, but did not, he noted, give the baby back to her mother. If he knew Sharon she was already working out the details for babysitting. "Yep," he told his partner, "we're keeping her tonight."

Provenza shook his head. "Wait until she starts crawling, we will see how quick you are to volunteer then! It's been too long. You've forgotten how much they can get into in a short amount of time."

He shrugged. "I guess we will find out." He gave it only another minute before he walked over to join them. Andy swung by the buffet table that they had set up on his way and filled a plate. When he reached the others he noticed that Ricky and Charlie had vacated the group once that the topic of conversation had turned toward babies and shopping. Andy took a seat on the end of the lounge beside his daughter's feet and handed her the plate. He couldn't recall having seen her eat at any point during the afternoon.

Within seconds of his having joined them his youngest grandson was on his feet, standing on the lounger and clinging to his back. Across the yard he could hear the others laughing. Near the porch, where their friends had gathered, he could hear them already teasing Buzz. It was the future that he had envisioned for them the previous fall, when he first asked Sharon to move in with him. They had a yard and house full of laughter, friends, and family. There were his children and hers, and while his relationship with his son wasn't always great, it was getting better all the time. There were grandchildren running around, and wedding plans that were in full swing. Now there was a ring that had been sent to the jewelers for resizing that he couldn't wait to put back on her finger. It had been too big for the dainty little hands that were holding his granddaughter. Their granddaughter, he corrected, and realized that she had stopped distinguishing between his and hers some time ago where the grandkids were concerned.

It was, he had come to understand, just the way that she was. Once she was in, she was _all in_ , and there was no looking back. Later, after their friends had gone, they would gather the children and tell them that they were getting married. One weekend soon, before the end of summer, they would take that final plunge together. It would be simple. It would be private. It would be theirs. It would be another beginning. Another step forward, but not such a great leap for either of them, not as long as they were jumping together.

 ** _~FIN_**


End file.
